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REMINISCENCES 



OF 



Seven Years of Early Life. 



— BY— P" 



RICHARD S? SMITH 



WILMINGTON, DEL. 
FERRIS BROS., PRINTERS 

1884. 






The proceeds of the sale of this vol- 
ume are to be devoted to Calvary Church, 
Rockdale, Delaware County, Pa. 







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PREFACE. 



The little volume, which is herewith put in 
print, was originally written with no such purpose 
in view. It was kindly meant by its venerable and 
venerated author only for the interest and instruc- 
tion of a young lad, to whom he stood in the 
relation of a "sponsor in baptism," and towards 
whom he thus desired to fulfill some of the duty 
of such a relation. It was compiled when the 
writer was "almost fourscore," and during a few 
days of enforced leisure after a recovery from a 
short illness. As Mr. Smith himself said, " it was 
intended to be adapted to the thought and com- 
prehension of a youth of eleven years of age, and, 
therefore, due allowance must be made for its style 
and language." But to many others, beside those 



iv PREFACE. 

who fondly cherish the memory of the author as a 
near relative, these Reminiscences of his early life 
have presented so clearly and so beautifully impor- 
tanf events of a historical character, and such a 
practical example of prudence, faithfulness, and de- 
cision under trying circumstances, that they are 
deemed well worthy of a much larger circle of 
readers than was at first contemplated. They can 
scarcely fail to attract the attention of just that 
class of manly young men, with whom Mr. Smith 
had all his long life such sincere and earnest sym- 
pathy. They sketch incidents and actions of his 
own career, in the first seven years of his effective 
and spotless business life, that appeal at once to 
the sense of honor and duty which every upright 
youth instinctively feels he ought to cultivate. They 
embody advice for all beginners in life's responsi- 
bilities, which is as easily understood as it is likely 
to be stimulating. 

And there is this consideration to be added : 
the promise of future usefulness, conspicuous in 
these recollections of his early days, which Mr. 



PREFACE. v 

Smith has so quietly and modestly written down 
for his favored godson, was fully realized in all his 
after life. He retained his conscientious principles, 
and his energetic habits, to the last. He never 
failed in his duty towards others, especially in cases 
of emergency. Whatever became of himself, or of 
his own interests, he was far-sighted and vigilant 
in the discharge of trusts committed to his care. 
He fulfilled his engagements to his fellow-men, as 
faithfully as he endeavored to please God, and that 
is saying a great deal. Throughout a laborious 
career of more than seventy years, he exemplified 
strictly the apostle's language, "not slothful in busi- 
ness, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." The 
same diligence which he thought due to worldly 
affairs, he regarded as demanded by his distinctly 
Christian work. He was as prompt, and cheerful, 
and constant in the performance of his duties in 
the church and Sunday-school, as in the discharge 
of those belonging to his home and his counting- 
house. He was always on the alert to promote 
the interests both of religion and of trade; always 



vi PREFACE. 

quick to discern an opportunity for doing good. 
With him 

" Life was real, life was earnest," 

and to all its details of work, little as well as 
large, he was ever true-hearted, as well as wide 
awake. His early Reminiscences indicate to us the 
character of his whole history, — a man gentle and 
pure, trusted and brave, " sans peur et sans re- 
proche." 

J. K. M. 
Rectory of St. Michaels Church, Germantown. 



REMINISCENCES. 



My Dear Guilliam: — 

At a social meeting of your father's family and 
mine, the subject of the early training of boys and 
young men was freely discussed, and, having at some 
length detailed my own personal experience, from 
boyhood to manhood, which seemed deeply to in- 
terest and engage your attention, your father re- 
quested, in consideration of my relation to you as 
your godfather, that I should write in detail the 
little history of my early life, from the time of my 
entry into the counting-room of Messrs. Pratt & 
Kintzing, in April, 1806, until my return from Swe- 
den, in 18 1 3, an eventful period, embracing the 
history of the wars in Europe, which I shall not 
attempt to discuss, but which it will be seen had 
an important bearing upon my experience of life 
in that period. 

Messrs. Pratt & Kintzing were ship owners and 
commission merchants, trading largely with Europe, 
West Indies, and South America. England and 



2 REMINISCENCES OF 

France being at war, there was great demand for 
vessels under the American flag; consequently the 
business of Pratt & Kintzing was very large, and 
kept the young men in their employ fully occupied. 

The first day I entered the counting-room the 
bookkeeper told me that the ship Mount Vernon, 
lying at the wharf opposite the store, was to dis- 
charge a cargo of coffee the next day. The ship 
was of 800 tons burthen, and the cargo was on 
board in bulk — a thing unheard of in the present 
day; but the ship was loaded at Port au Prince, 
St. Domingo, soon after the insurrection of the 
blacks, who had driven their masters from the 
Island. Having taken possession of the plantations, 
they picked the coffee and brought it to the sea- 
port in such packages as they could obtain ; and 
there being no bags to put it into, it was emptied 
into the hold of the vessel, as we are accustomed 
to load corn or wheat, in this country. 

With a gang of colored laborers to fill bags, 
and half a dozen sail-makers to sew them, it oc- 
cupied near a fortnight to discharge this large 
cargo. I was obliged to be in the hold of the ves- 
sel during this time, almost suffocated with dust. 
My business was to mark the bags before they were 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 3 

landed ; there being many owners of the cargo, a 
certain number of bags for each owner, was marked, 
and weighed when landed. 

A great portion of my time, during my appren- 
ticeship with Pratt & Kintzing, was employed di- 
recting the loading and unloading of vessels, and 
storing the goods that were landed from the ves- 
sels. To effect this, I had a gang of twelve drays 
and carts, and had to keep a strict account of the 
number of hogsheads, casks, barrels, and boxes, and 
the weights of the same ; to see them properly 
coopered and fitted to go on board the vessels, and 
when loaded on board, to make out the entries for 
clearance at the custom-house, and obtain the ne- 
cessary certificates of origin from the foreign con- 
suls ; all this labor kept me occupied from sunrise 
to sunset, and after sunset I was engaged until a 
late hour in the evening making my returns to the 
bookkeeper of all goods and merchandise. 

I remained nearly four years in the counting- 
room of Messrs. Pratt & Kintzing, and with an 
earnest desire to make myself a thorough business 
man, I worked hard in every department of their 
business, both at the wharf and in the counting- 
room and salesroom. I very early had a great de- 



4 REMINISCENCES OF 

sire to go abroad to China or to Europe, which I 
could only do as business agent or supercargo. I 
had heard my brother and other friends relate the 
history of their voyages, and the handsome com- 
missions or profits they made, and was so anxious 
to fit myself for such employment, that I kept 
written memoranda of all the information I could 
obtain from persons returning from such voyages, 
from which, if I never profited much, I at least 
gained habits of industry and close observation. In 
the winter season, when I could command a little 
time in the evenings, I resumed my lessons in the 
French language, as I felt I should require a knowl- 
edge of it if I visited Europe. 

In the spring of 1810, when within four months 
of being of age, my father, being then of the firm 
of Gurney & Smith, advertised the ship Eclipse for 
port or ports in the Baltic, and many merchants 
offered to ship goods by the vessel, to be con- 
signed to a supercargo on board, subject to their 
instructions. I was looking anxiously for the time 
when I could claim to be a man, and wanting but 
four months of that period, I ventured to suggest 
to my father, that he should propose me to the 
shippers, to go as supercargo. He was somewhat 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 5 

surprised, and replied that I was yet too young, 
and could hardly suppose that they would consent 
to my taking charge. I told him I had confidence 
that I was fully able to take charge and carry out 
the instructions that must necessarily be given, and 
I begged him to see or write to Mr. Kintzing, 
whose testimony in my favor I thought would be 
satisfactory to the shippers on the Eclipse. He ac- 
cordingly wrote to Mr. Kintzing, who replied by 
letter that he thought me fully qualified for the 
charge, for which I had been trained under his 
supervision, and that I had given evidence of a 
general knowledge of mercantile affairs, and of 
active business habits. This testimony was satis- 
factory, and I felt quite proud for my own sake 
and for my father's, that, young as I was, I was 
nevertheless thought capable and worthy of the 
trust thus committed to me. 

In connection with this dear parent, I cannot 
here refrain from expressing my grateful memory of 
his loving care of his children, personally, intel- 
lectually, and morally. With seven children, six 
of whom were sons, the youngest not two years 
old at the death of our mother, he continued 
unmarried, and devoted himself unremittingly to 



O REMINISCENCES 01 

their training, until they all were established in busi- 
ness, and all, including the daughters, were married ; 
and thus lived, loved and respected among his chil- 
dren and numerous grandchildren, until he reached 
his eighty-third year. In my youth, without a 
mother's influence and loving care for my religious 
training, and with no Sunday-schools in that day 
to supply the want, I could receive little home 
instruction ; my father therefore was very exact in 
requiring of me, with all his children who were 
under age, a regular attendance at church twice 
on Sunday. Many times in the course of my life 
have I dwelt with gratitude upon this training — 
until I was twenty years old — in the Episcopal 
Church. In what other church, apart from Sunday- 
schools, could I have obtained such scriptural in- 
structions ? The four chapters from the Old and 
New Testaments ; the Psalms of David ; the Con- 
fession, the Creed, and the Lord's Prayer ; the 
Ante-Communion service, with the Commandments, 
the Epistle and Gospel ; all these, with the prayers 
and Litany, could not be otherwise than impressed 
on my memory by constant use. Although not then 
fully understood, the lessons thus learned were not 
lost, and in after life exercised their influence on 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 7 

my conscience and conduct. I dwell on this sub- 
ject, my dear godson, in order that you may know 
and appreciate the church, which, to children cir- 
cumstanced as I was, is a loving mother to bring 
them to the Savior. 

And now to resume my story : After having 
taken leave of my kind friends, Messrs. Pratt & 
Kintzing, and my fellow apprentices in their count- 
ing-room, I made preparations for my voyage. In 
those days there were neither steamboats, railroads, 
nor telegraph. Vessels were frequently many days 
before they could reach the sea, against wind and 
tide, and generally started as soon as loaded and 
proceeded down to New Castle, forty miles below 
the city, there taking in their provisions for the 
voyage, and properly overhauling their sails and rig- 
ging, waiting at • the same time for their clearance 
at the custom-house, and for instructions to cap- 
tains and supercargoes, who joined their ships gen- 
erally within two days after leaving the wharf at 
Philadelphia. My elder brother Gurney had pre- 
ceded me, and at that time was on his second voy- 
age to Canton, in China. And now my kind father, 
availing himself of the opportunity to give me his 
parting advice and counsel, with his paternal bless- 



8 REMINISCENCES OF 

ing, took me to New Castle in his chaise, which 
he drove himself, impressing upon me the great re- 
sponsibility resting upon me, as well to the mer- 
chants who entrusted their business to my care, as 
to him my father, whose happiness was involved in 
the life of his children, and in their character and 
reputation. He accompanied me on board the ship, 
and after looking to my accommodation in the 
cabin, and commending me to the captain, took an 
affectionate leave, expressing at the same time his 
confidence that I would justify the good opinion 
that had won for me my position as supercargo. 

We sailed from New Castle about the 20th of 
May, 1 8 10, and for two weeks nothing particular 
occurred. I was, however, deeply impressed with 
the wonders of the sea, the working of the crew 
on the ship, and other circumstances incident to 
sea life. On the 3d day of June, the weather being 
foggy, and the sea quite calm, I was reading quietly 
in my berth in the cabin, when I was startled by 
the captain calling me to come up on deck. The 
fog had cleared away, and there, within half a mile 
of us, was an immense island of ice, at least 400 
feet square, and 100 feet high. The top looked 
like a great assemblage of steeples and towers, on 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 9 

which the rays of the sun shone and sparkled. 
These irregularities were occasioned by the sun 
melting the ice on the surface, and as this great 
mass rolled from side to side, the water poured off 
like so many cataracts. The captain told me that 
if the ice measured ioo feet above water, it would 
be 800 feet below ; you may imagine therefore what 
a heavy mass it was. I was exceedingly anxious 
to approach, nearer to it, but the captain convinced 
me that it would be unsafe for the ship to do so, 
as it might come in collision, which would be our 
destruction. As the sea was unusually calm, he 
lowered the boat, and we rowed within forty yards 
of the ice. I was very curious to ascertain if the 
water running off the island was fresh or salt; but 
the sea dashed on the sides of the island, and flew 
back in great waves, so that we feared to approach 
nearer. All the sides were nearly perpendicular, 
and of course there was no chance of getting on 
it. I ascertained, however, that the ice was fresh, 
and not salt, as he picked up several large lumps, 
and took them on board the ship, where he melted 
them and found them perfectly fresh ; quite as 
much so as any got from the Schuylkill river. 

The theory in relation to these islands I think 



IO REMINISCENCES OF 

is, that they are glaciers existing on the shores of 
the Arctic Sea, which by their weight, breaking off 
from the mass, are drifted out, and by the winds 
and current are driven in to warm latitudes, and there 
melt and disappear. 

The weather continued calm and foggy for thir- 
teen days ; we were then on the banks of Newfound- 
land, the great fishing ground, and saw many small 
vessels fishing for cod, etc. As we were making 
little progress, we had an opportunity to catch 
many more fish than we could use, and salted some 
for future use. During this time we were exceed- 
ingly anxious, as the weather was so foggy that 
sometimes we could scarcely see from one end to 
the other of the vessel ; and to our great dismay, 
when the fog at noon would sometimes clear for a 
few hours, we could see numerous islands of ice, 
same larger even than the one I have described ; 
and some of these were so near, and the weather 
so calm, that not having wind to sail clear of them, 
we had, in a few cases, to lower the boat and tow 
the ship's head in an opposite direction. In this 
critical situation, fearing that in the fog, and par- 
ticularly in the darkness of the night, we might drift 
against one of these great islands, the captain 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 1 1 

did not dare to leave the deck of the ship; and 
great was our rejoicing, when the wind rose and 
cleared off the fog, and we again resumed our 
course. 

Nothing material occurred after this until we 
made the land off the north of Scotland, called the 
Orkne}^ Islands. The wind being against us, it 
was concluded to enter one of the harbors and come 
to anchor, until the wind should be fair, to enable 
us to pass through the Pentland Firth, which is a 
strait or channel between the northern part of 
Scotland called John O'Groat's house, and the 
Orkney Islands ; after passing through which, the 
entrance to the Baltic Sea is open through the 
narrow sea called the Cattegat, which is bounded 
by the coasts of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. 
I was truly delighted with the first view of land in 
a foreign country, and having been sixty days at 
sea, the sight of beautiful green hills, interspersed 
with the purple and yellow flowers of the heather 
and other wild plants, was most refreshing. 

We entered the harbor of Stromness, and there 
came to anchor early in the afternoon, and as the 
wind was contrary, I determined to land and write 
to my friends at home, informing them of our pro- 



12 REMINISCENCES OF 

gress. Stromness is a small town built on a long 
narrow street. The inhabitants are mostly engaged 
in fishing, and the men employed as seamen in the 
naval and mercantile service. As I passed along 
the streets, I was constantly accosted by women and 
girls with knit stockings and socks, knitting at the 
same time upon unfinished work. These stockings 
were beautifully fine and strong, and some that I 
purchased and brought home with me, long after, 
were much admired. The ship having come to 
anchor, I landed and took lodgings at a comfort- 
able house, which being the only one of the kind in 
the town, I suppose I might call the hotel. Strict- 
ly speaking, it was a decent ale-house ; the landlord 
and his wife, respectable aged persons, who seemed 
pleased to provide me a comfortable lodging-room, 
and a supper of tea, milk, and eggs, which I enjoyed 
highly, after my fare on board ship. After supper, 
while I sat reading the London newspaper, a very 
respectable looking elderly gentleman came into the 
room, and was introduced to me by the landlord, 
as one of their most esteemed citizens, named Logan. 
He told me that, learning my ship was from Phila- 
delphia, he had called to make some inquiry of me 
respecting a near relative of his wife, who, having 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. 1 3 

lately died, had left his property to his relatives, and 
among others, to Mrs. Logan. The name of the 
deceased, he said, was Morris Kennedy. I told him 
I had known Mr. Kennedy from my childhood, as 
he lived and died within a few doors of my father's 
house, in which I was born. I therefore gratified 
him by giving him an exact account of his occu- 
pation as book-keeper in the old-established house 
of Levi Hollingsworth & Son, where he had been 
employed for over 40 years. I also described the 
personal appearance, gentlemanly manners, and up- 
right character of Mr. Kennedy, all which delighted 
Mr. Logan. Before he took leave of me, he in- 
vited me to breakfast with him on the morrow, and . 
called in the morning to escort me to his house, 
where I was most cordially received by his family, 
and enjoyed the novelty of a Scotch breakfast, with 
oatmeal cakes, etc. 

In the course of the day, an American brig 
came to anchor near our ship, and learning she 
had just arrived from a port in the Baltic, I imme- 
diately went on board, and in conversation with the 
supercargo, soon gained such information as mate- 
rially changed my course on the voyage before me. 
I learned from this gentleman that the Danes — 



1 4 RE3TINISCENCES OF 

then at war with England — were capturing vessels 
under the American flag, on the ground that many 
Englishmen were sailing their ships under our 
flag, with false or forged papers, purporting to be 
granted by American custom-houses. The vessels 
so captured or detained were tried in the Danish 
courts, and even if subsequently released, were 
detained by these proceedings for several months, at 
great expense, and the probable ruin of their in- 
tended voyage. And further, I was informed that 
having anchored in a British port, as I had done, 
made the vessel and cargo liable to condemnation. 
The supercargo told me that he had taken protec- 
tion under British convoy, from his Baltic port, 
until now, being free from danger of Danish cap- 
ture, he should proceed on his homeward voyage. 
He strongly advised me to wait, and proceed under 
convoy of the sloop-of-war that brought them to 
this port, which would return to the Baltic in about 
two weeks. I now first realized my great respon- 
sibility in the position I held as consignee of the 
vessel and cargo. Should I proceed without con- 
voy, and be captured on the ground that I had 
anchored in an English port, after having been ad- 
vised of the danger, I should be censured for hav- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. I 5 

ing incurred the risk. Again, should I take the 
convoy, it might be a bar to my entering a Russian 
port, which nation then was nominally at war with 
England, and excluded English vessels and mer- 
chandise from her ports. Finally, I concluded that 
the Danish capture was the greater risk, and I de- 
termined to go under the British convoy. I knew 
enough of insurance, even at that early period of 
my life, to be aware that I incurred the danger of 
invalidating the policy on vessel and cargo, as it 
might be considered deviation, in thus waiting for 
weeks in a port, when under ordinary circumstances 
I should be on the voyage. To obviate this peril, 
I wrote to my father through his correspondent in 
London, informing him of the reasons that influ- 
enced me in the course I proposed to pursue, and 
requesting him to inform the insurance companies 
of my design, and have their consent, and their 
endorsement of the policies. Feeling assured that 
this would be done, I was the more willing to wait 
a couple of weeks in the harbor, as it would give 
time for my letter to reach home and have the in- 
surance arranged before any news could reach 
them, should disaster subsequently happen to me or 
the property in my charge. The fleet waiting 



1 6 REMINISCENCES OF 

convoy for the Baltic was lying in a snug harbor 
between the islands a few miles from Stromness, 
called Long Hope. There we proceeded with the 
ship, and came to anchor. Waiting here for the 
time of sailing of the convoy, I frequently landed 
and visited among the inhabitants, who furnished 
supplies to the shipping, and were very cordial. We 
were agreeably surprised also to receive a visit 
from Mr. Kennedy, a nephew of Mr. Logan, of 
Stromness, who came in a boat from his residence 
on a neighboring island and presented us with a 
keg of delicious butter, a dozen of chickens, and 
a large basket of eggs, all of which were very 
acceptable. Mr. Kennedy remained three days on 
board with us, and seemed to enjoy our company, 
and the fare of our table. 

There were several American vessels in the 
convoy, and one of these having a large yawl boat, 
a party was made up to visit Kirkwall, the princi- 
pal town of the Orkneys, distant about six miles 
from our anchorage. This town is most remark- 
able for the ruins of a great cathedral built by 
the Danes about the year noo, when they in- 
habited these islands. The choir of this cathe- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. 1 7 

dral is the only portion that can be used, and it is 
now occupied as a church. 

We spent some hours in the town, and started 
to return, when, after being an hour on our way, we 
began to fear we had mistaken our course. A 
thick fog rising, we were much at a loss how to 
proceed. If we approached the shore we could not 
discern any houses, or persons to direct us, and we 
began to fear we should have to lay on our oars, 
being fearful we might be going on the wrong 
course. It was becoming dark, when we heard a 
boat being rowed ahead of us ; we immediately 
gave chase, but the parties in the boat evidently 
used every exertion to keep out of our way. We 
hailed and shouted, but could not get an answer; 
but having six stout men rowing our boat, we at 
last came up with the stranger. When we came 
near he threw down his oars in despair, and said we 
had taken a prize. We then soon understood he was 
a smuggler, with several kegs of brandy in his boat, 
and he took us to be the revenue guard boat, and 
supposed he would lose his liquor, and be punished 
with imprisonment. In his joy at discovering his 
mistake, he volunteered to pilot us, and we arrived 
on board our ship, only after daylight. The follow- 



1 8 REMINISCENCES OF 

ing day we received our orders to prepare to follow 
the convoying ship, and got under way with the fleet. 
We sailed from the harbor of Long Hope under 
convoy of the sloop-of-war, the fleet numbering 
about thirty sail. The weather was beautiful, and 
being early in July, the days were at the longest, 
there being only about four hours between sunset 
and sunrise. I was occupied and amused watching 
the movements of so many vessels of different na- 
tions, and of various classes ; ships of large size, 
others of peculiar shape and rig, and all being sub- 
ject to the signals and orders of the convoying ship. 
One would get a little in advance of the convoy, 
when a gun fired in that direction would cause a 
sudden hauling down of sails, and dropping astern, 
to receive a reproof for breach of orders ; others 
would hoist all sail, and even then fall so far in the 
rear that we all would have to shorten sail until they 
could come up with us. I had the satisfaction to 
find our ship so fast a sailer that, with fewer sails 
set than most others, we could keep close within hail 
of the convoying ship. This, with pleasant weather, 
continued several days, until we approached the 
coast of Norway, a point of land usually called the 
" Naze of Norway," when early in the morning we 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 1 9 

observed a sloop-of-war, under English colors, mak- 
ing all sail towards us, firing guns and making signals, 
which were answered by our convoying ship. Being 
near our convoy, we hailed, and asked the meaning of 
these signals, and were directed to look up to wind- 
ward, and there we should see a fleet of about forty 
sail of vessels, which, being under convoy of the ship 
that was approaching us, had a few hours before been 
met by three Danish gun-brigs, and the whole of 
them captured and driven before them to Christian- 
sand, a port near the Naze. We considered our- 
selves fortunate that the Danes were too much occu- 
pied to turn their attention to us, otherwise, as they 
were to windward of us, they could readily have run 
down to us, when our convoying ship would not have 
been able to cope with three. I learned some time 
after this, that one of the captured vessels was the 
brig Elizabeth, Captain Donaldson, of Philadelphia, 
which vessel was condemned by the Danish court, 
and vessel and cargo sold. Some ten years after- 
wards a claim was made upon the Danish govern- 
ment for the amount, and after long negotiation was 
finally compromised by paying the owners one-half of 
the claim. 

Proceeding on our voyage, we approached the 



20 REMINISCENCES OF 

entrance of the river Gotha, which leads to Gothen- 
burg. Happily we engaged a pilot ; otherwise I 
should have been alarmed, sailing between and close 
to immense rocks standing high out of the water, 
which we could pass within a few feet. Wingo 
Roads, a bay or harbor within this rocky boundary, 
was the rendezvous for the fleets bound to and from 
the Baltic. We passed through a fleet at anchor, of 
several hundred sail of vessels. The convoying ships 
employed to protect the fleets through the narrow 
channels of the sound and belt bordered by the 
Danish coast (which was lined with forts covering 
numerous cruisers ready to capture every straggling 
vessel), required to be of the largest class, very differ- 
ent from the sloop-of-war which convoyed us thus 
far. I noticed in the fleet under the British flag one 
ship of the line of one hundred and twenty guns ; 
one, the Victory, formerly Admiral Nelson's ship, 
of ninety guns ; two of seventy-four guns ; and oth- 
ers of various grades. Passing through this fleet, 
we entered a small harbor encircled with rocks, 
which is called Kanso, or the quarantine harbor. 
Here we came to anchor, and an officer came on 
board and asked for our papers, which he was re- 
quired to forward to the health office, and on the 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 21 

following day we were permitted to go up to the city. 
The distance we were told was two miles, and after 
sailing with a fair breeze for over an hour, we won- 
dered the city was not yet in sight. A passenger 
asked the boy who had charge of the boat, and who 
spoke English, how old he was ; he replied, eighteen 
years. " Well, my good fellow," said the gentleman, 
"if your years are as long as your miles, you must be 
very old." We then learned that the Swedish mile 
is equal to seven English. We finally reached the 
suburbs of the town, where we landed, and were di- 
rected or led to a hotel much frequented by Ameri- 
can captains, being near to the wharves and stores, 
for landing their cargoes. The scene on entering the 
street greatly amused and interested me. It was 
rather narrow, and being without side-walks, carts, 
carriages, and people were crowded and intermingled 
in a manner quite new and curious to me. The 
peculiar dress of the peasantry ; the women with 
short skirts, blue or red, with long stockings, red or 
blue, and with peculiar head dresses ; the men also, 
with long hair, coarse round jackets, and heavy 
shoes, all moving cheerfully and actively on their 
way, and laughing, shouting, and talking, in a lan- 
guage unintelligible to me, — all this occupied my 



22 REMINISCENCES OF 

attention so fully, that my guide had sometimes to 
draw me out of the road of the moving vehicles. On 
arriving at the hotel, I met several Americans, who 
received me cordially, and told me of some Phila- 
delphians who were at lodgings in the city, which 
was distant about a mile. The next day I met these 
friends, among whom were Messrs. John Connell, 
Redman Lawrence, James Read, and subsequently 
William Mcllvaine, Joseph Sims, John Diamond, and 
George Hawkins. Beside these, many from the New 
England States, with whom I formed friendships 
which lasted during our lives ; few of whom, how- 
ever, are now living. 

Having presented my letter of introduction to the 
mercantile firm of Hotterman & Co., I was welcomed 
to their office or counting-room, with offers of service 
in any form that could promote the business or object 
of my voyage. I accordingly very soon commenced 
a correspondence, as I had been instructed to do, 
with prominent mercantile houses in London, Am- 
sterdam, Hamburg, and St. Petersburg. The infor- 
mation to be obtained from them was to determine 
me in my choice of a market for my cargo. While 
waiting answers to these, I made excursions with 
some of my American friends to the falls of Trol- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 2$ 

hatta; a remarkable waterfall which empties the 
water from the lake Wener into the river Gotha, 
which runs past Gothenburg to the sea. 

My good friend Mr. John Connell having intro- 
duced me to his consignee, Mr. Bjomberg, a wealthy 
merchant of the city, I received an invitation together 
with Mr. Connell, and Mr. John Hemphill, of Wil- 
mington, Delaware, to an entertainment given in 
honor of the marriage of his two daughters, who had 
been wedded to two officers of the army during the 
week. The entertainment was given at the splendid 
country seat of Mr. Bjomberg, about six English 
miles from the city. The guests were invited to be 
on the ground at two p.m. It was anticipated that 
the company would be about two hundred persons at 
dinner. We were told that those guests who could 
not obtain carriages, of which few were to be hired 
in Gothenburg, would find conveyances prepared for 
them at the post-house at noon. We accordingly 
presented ourselves there, and found twenty or thirty 
peasant carts, such as were generally used by travelers 
in Sweden, where at that period there were neither 
railroads nor stages. These were rough vehicles, fre- 
quently having harness of rope, or straw twisted into 
cord; many were driven by young lads, some by 



24 REMINISCENCES OF 

stout girls. It was amusing to witness the gay 
good humor of all parties, drivers and passengers, 
and the young drivers thought there never had been 
such a harvest as they then reaped, when they set 
down their passengers at the door of the grand 
mansion. On entering the gate we observed a large 
number of the guests strolling over the grounds, and 
after passing into the house, being received by the host 
and introduced to some members of the family, — in- 
cluding the married couples, — we also wandered out 
and enjoyed the beauties of the scenery, and the gar- 
dens, with abundance of fruit. When summoned to 
dinner, it was indeed a novel sight to me to witness 
the form and ceremony with which the great digni- 
taries, male and female, were received and conducted 
to their appropriate seats at table. It had been a 
rare thing for an American to see officers in full 
dress, except perhaps on Fourth of July parades on 
the streets. It was a novel sight, therefore, to wit- 
ness a crowd of officers of rank in full dress uniform, 
adorned also with ribbons and other badges of orders 
of nobility. A", the head of the table sat the Bishop 
of Gothenburg, with a star on the left breast of his 
coat, a broad ribbon hanging from his neck, with a 
large silver cross suspended; a broad green ribbon 



SEVEN YEARS OE EARLY LIFE. 2$ 

with yellow border across his left shoulder, and a 
broad yellow ribbon crossing his right shoulder. All 
these sights, and the conversation free and evidently 
complimentary to the distinguished guests, and in a 
language entirely unintelligible, kept my attention 
much engaged. I will not attempt to describe the 
number of courses that were placed on the table, most 
of which were altogether new to me, — so much so 
that I did not know what I was eating, — but I counted 
thirteen courses, and the wine seemed to be changed 
as frequently as the dishes. We were at table five 
hours, and the company seemed to enjoy themselves 
highly, and without any apparent excess. Many of 
the ladies I thought beautiful, and their manners 
graceful and easy. When about to return to the 
city, we found our country vehicles ready to receive 
us, and great emulation on the part of the drivers to 
secure our company. 

Having received answers to my letters from Lon- 
don, St. Petersburg, and other ports, I came to the 
conclusion that St. Petersburg offered the best mar- 
ket for my cargo, and being encouraged to believe 
that if the register and papers of the ship and cargo, 
proving them clearly to be American property, were 
presented to the Danish authorities, a license might 



26 REMINISCENCES OF 

be obtained to pass through the sound or strait be- 
tween Sweden and Denmark, without liability to cap- 
ture, I determined to proceed to Copenhagen and 
make an effort to obtain this protection. Mr. William 
Young and a Mr. Addicks — both of Philadelphia — 
agreed to accompany me on the same errand, having 
charge of ships and cargoes under similar circum- 
stances. 

I was now to commence traveling in Sweden, quite 
a novel experiment to me, then ignorant of the lan- 
guage, customs, and manners of the people, with all 
which I became subsequently familiar. And here I 
must explain the mode of traveling then existing in 
Sweden, where, as before stated, there were neither 
railroads nor public lines of stages. According to 
law, the country bordering on the public roads was 
divided into sections, and at about every ten miles 
was a station-house with an officer, an authorized 
agent, to provide horses, and otherwise assist and 
protect travelers. The farmers and owners of horses 
in each section were numbered, and each one in regu- 
lar succession required to furnish a horse, or horses, 
at the station in readiness for travelers, together with 
some one to drive and return the horses after com- 
pleting the work. Should the horses supplied early 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 2/ 

in the day be taken up, notice is given to the next 
farmer in succession, who must at once send his 
quota, even if he should take them from the plow or 
other farm work. It is required also that the farmers 
bring their carts to be used, if required, by travelers 
who are without carriages. These carts are small 
and without springs, capable of holding four persons, 
including the driver, and adapted for one or two 
horses. Persons desirous of traveling without delay, 
or waiting for horses, are accustomed to send what 
is called in Swedish a " forbud ;" this is done by 
making out a list of the stations, with directions to 
have one or more horses at each station at a certain 
hour, with or without a cart. If traveling in their 
own carriages, it is so mentioned. The postmaster 
at the first station makes a record and sends it to the 
next, and he again sends it to the third, and so to the 
end of the day's journey. In settling the pay for 
the horses, the " forbud" horse is of course included. 
It is often convenient to send a portion of the trav- 
eler's baggage by the " forbud," which may be found 
on arrival at the last station ; and in all my inter- 
course with travelers, I never heard of any dishonesty 
or injury to property in charge. 

Being ready for our journey, by the help of one of 



28 REMINISCENCES 01 

our Swedish friends we had a "forbud" list made out 
and despatched in the afternoon from the Gothenburg 
station, ordering the horses for stated hours for the 
next day. We bought a decent open carriage capable 
of accommodating four persons, but without harness, 
the single harness of the peasants being such as with 
the help of a few ropes might be adapted for use. 

We started early in the day, and arrived at the 
stated time at the first station ; here, as at every other 
station, we were required to enter our names, with 
date, etc., on a book, in which there was a margin 
or column for travelers to record any complaint they 
might justly urge of delay or wrong usage on the 
part of agent or farmers. This book is examined 
once a month by an officer of the Government, and 
notice is taken of any just cause of complaint, in 
which case the agent of the station is taken to ac- 
count or dismissed from his office. 

We proceeded pleasantly on our road, driven some- 
times by men, at others by boys, or stout good- 
humored girls, all of whom were much amused at our 
attempts to make ourselves understood. I think all 
the Swedish we learned that day was " k6r po," drive 
on, and "dricks peninger," or drink money, which is 
universally the term for a gratuity to the driver at 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 2g 

parting, as also to any other employee or servant at 
the conclusion of a job. After passing three or four 
stations, when we came to make payment at another, 
at starting, we found there was a larger price claimed 
than marked on the papers, which had been pre- 
pared for us by our friend at Gothenburg. We ob- 
jected, and offered the amount set down on our list of 
charges ; it was refused, and we were not permitted 
to go forward. It was in vain for us to show our 
paper: they argued loudly against it, and we of 
course could not understand their objections, but 
noticed their frequent use, in a loud, determined tone, 
of a word of which we afterwards learned the mean- 
ing, " ventepeningar," which they repeated again and 
again. Finally we concluded to pay the amount 
demanded, being a dollar or two more than we con- 
ceived they had a right to charge. This, to us an 
overcharge, was continued at every subsequent sta- 
tion, and at each an increased amount, to which we 
submitted with good humor, as we began to think 
our list of prices might have been incorrect. Early 
in the evening we arrived at the last station on the 
list, where we were to spend the night. It was a 
small village called Engleholm, and the house where 
we stopped was of a better class and appearance than 



30 REMINISCENCES OF 

at other stations. When we entered we were met by 
a genteel, pleasing lady, who bade us welcome in 
pure English. It sounded like music to our ears, 
which had been perplexed during the day by the con- 
troversy with the drivers. We were introduced into 
a genteel apartment, and found that arrangements had 
been made for comfortable supper and lodging. Miss 
Lindgren, the lady who received us, said that she 
presumed from the names signed to our forbud that 
we were English or Americans, and had provided for 
us accordingly. We told her of our trouble, and the 
overcharge we had to pay at several stations, and in- 
quired the meaning of the word " ventepeningar," so 
loudly called out to us when we hesitated to pay. She 
laughed, and explained to us that we had engaged 
our horses at fixed hours, and that they were bound 
to hold them in readiness for one hour after the time 
specified, after which they had a right to charge a 
fixed price per hour as "ventipeningar" or wait money. 
Of course every delay in starting increased the de- 
mand at the next station, and it was well therefore 
that we concluded early in our journey to pay the 
demand. We found in conversation with the lady 
of the house that she visited frequently in the family 
of the English consul at Elsineur, and thus learned 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 3 I 

to speak our language. After passing a comfortable 
night, and partaking of a plentiful breakfast, we took 
leave with many acknowledgments for the kind atten- 
tions of our amiable hostess, and after a journey of a 
few hours, arrived at the town of Helsinborg, on the 
Swedish shore, opposite to the fortress and town of 
Elsineur on the Danish side ; these two towns being 
at the entrance of the sound or strait between Sweden 
and Denmark. This sound between the two shores 
is here, at the entrance, about four miles wide, and as 
all vessels drawing any depth are compelled to pass 
near the castle or fortress at Elsineur, it was cus- 
tomary for all nations to pay toll or duty to the 
Danish government for the privilege. This lasted 
until within the last twenty years, when, a demand 
being made by England, France, and the United 
States, it was finally conceded that each nation should 
pay an amount as commutation for the claim on the 
part of Denmark, and this payment was to be in 
full, and no charge to be made thereafter for sound 
dues on their vessels. 

Having shown our passports to the officer at 
Helsinborg, he procured a large sail-boat, navigated 
by three men, and we then embarked, and, with a 
fresh breeze, proceeded towards the opposite coast. 



32 REMINISCENCES OF 

About mid -channel we observed a large ship at 
anchor, with the United States flag flying. On ap- 
proaching, I recognized the Philadelphia ship Lyon, 
belonging to Messrs. Savage & Dugan, and so in- 
formed my fellow-passengers, who agreed that we 
should board the ship and inquire the news from 
home. As we came alongside, we were hailed by 
an officer, whom I instantly recognized as Commo- 
dore Bainbridge, of the United States Navy, who 
was immediately joined by Mr. Wm. Lynch, a mer- 
chant of Philadelphia, with whom I was well ac- 
quainted. Having signified our desire to go on 
board, we were informed that it would not be per- 
mitted, as the ship had been captured by a Danish 
privateer which was lying astern, and was nothing 
more than a large open boat, with a single gun, and 
a number of men, who had taken possession and 
brought the ship under the guns of the fortress. 
We were much annoyed by this occurrence, but the 
gentlemen told us they hoped to meet us on the 
morrow in Copenhagen. When we landed at Elsi- 
neur, we met on the wharf a great number of men 
rejoicing over the capture of the fine English mer- 
chantman under the American flag. Having ob- 
served that we had been alongside of the ship, and 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 33 

been speaking with persons on board, they asked if 
we knew anything of the ship. They were incredu- 
lous when I told them she was from Philadelphia, 
where I resided when at home. They said that that 
was all pretence, for they had seen the captain in 
an English uniform. They were rather discouraged 
when I told them that the officer was Commodore 
Bainbridge of the United States Navy, as they 
would learn when he landed. 

Having procured a handsome open carriage, we 
proceeded over a fine smooth road towards Copen- 
hagen. Being about the season for harvest, the 
fields were alive with the reapers and gatherers, 
many of whom were women and girls, in their 
bright colored dresses presenting quite a gay scene. 
The distance to the city was about thirty miles. 
On arriving at the hotel to which we had been di- 
rected, we had the pleasure to meet Messrs. Red- 
wood Fisher, Wm. Craig, and Wm. L. Hodge, all of 
Philadelphia. The following day we met Commo- 
dore Bainbridge and Mr. Lynch. It will be remem- 
bered that Commodore Bainbridge had once been 
a prisoner at Tripoli, with the officers and crew of 
the frigate Philadelphia, which had been wrecked on 
the coast, and the crew captured by the Turks. 



34 REMINISCENCES OF 

While prisoners there, the Danish consul, Baron 
Wyssen, had shown them great kindness, and when 
they were finally released, the American Govern- 
ment returned their thanks to the King of Denmark 
for the aid given to Commodore Bainbridge and 
officers. When Baron Wyssen heard, therefore, that 
Bainbridge was in Copenhagen, he immediately 
sought for him, and introduced him to the king, 
who received him cordially, and ordered an imme- 
diate examination of his ship's papers ; and in a 
few days the ship was released and furnished with 
papers protecting her from capture by the Danish 
cruisers. This was a fortunate result for the owners, 
Messrs. Savage & Dugan, as they realized a large 
profit on the outward cargo, and were enabled to 
load a return cargo and sail for home before winter. 
After consultation with the American consul, 
and with the Americans detained at Copenhagen, 
it was considered useless to apply to the king 
for a license or protection from privateers. His 
Majesty could not grant such protection unless it 
was shown that the vessel and cargo for which 
the license was asked was clearly neutral, and the 
investigations would occupy more time and labor 
than he could bestow. The case of the Lyon 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 35 

with Commodore Bainbridge, was an exception 
under the peculiar circumstances connected with 
the correspondence between the two governments, 
relative to Baron Wyssen's intervention during Com- 
modore Bainbridge's captivity, and was not to be 
considered a precedent for future applications. 

My visit to Copenhagen was necessarily short, 
as it was important that I should return to Goth- 
enburg and decide upon my future course in rela- 
tion to the ship and cargo. I therefore had little 
time to go around and visit the city and environs. 
I was desirous to see the extent of injury done 
to the city by the bombardment by the British 
fleet in 1807, three years previous. It happened 
thus : Napoleon having compelled the King of 
Denmark to permit his armies to march through 
and over his territories, roused the apprehensions 
of the English ministry that he would control the 
Danish fleet, which then consisted of many pow- 
erful frigates. Although war did not then exist 
between the two governments, England made a 
demand upon the Danish government to deliver 
the fleet of vessels to England, with a pledge 
that the ships should be carefully laid up, and 
when hostilities should cease between England 



$6 REMINISCENCES OF 

and France, that they should be returned in good 
order. The Danish government having refused this 
demand, Admiral Gambier attacked and bombarded 
the city and the ships in the harbor, and after a 
severe engagement, which lasted several days, the 
fleet was surrendered to save the city from entire 
destruction. In the quarter of the city which suf- 
fered most was a high tower, the ascent to which 
is by a winding road on the inside, by which the 
ascent is easy, without stairs, to the top. From 
the top of this tower I surveyed the melancholy 
sight of hundreds — it may have been thousands 
— of houses in entire ruins. It is not surprising, 
therefore, that Denmark, being thus deprived of her 
fleet, should have encouraged parties to fit out 
privateers in great numbers, and in their desire 
to reach their enemies' property, should have ex- 
tended their captures to Americans, on the plea 
that they could not distinguish between nations 
speaking the same language. And as the English 
flag was not admitted into Russian ports, many 
of their vessels were provided with forged Amer- 
ican papers, and hoisted the American flag. 

On our journey back to Gothenburg we prof- 
ited by the experience we had previously gained 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 37 

on the road, and had no difficulty in obtaining 
horses or settling the charges for them. On our 
arrival I found that many Americans had deter- 
mined to discharge their cargoes at Gothenburg. 
This was considered most prudent, taking into view 
the dangers of the passage up the Baltic, the 
lateness of the season, which might preclude a 
return before spring, and further, the relations be- 
tween Russia and France, which were such, that 
it was conceived — as it afterwards proved — war 
might take place between the nations. Having 
come to this conclusion, I ordered the ship to be 
discharged of her cargo, which having been done, 
I purchased a cargo of iron, and having seen it 
loaded on board, despatched the ship for home. 
The wind being unfavorable, the ship came to 
anchor in Wingo Roads, waiting a fair wind for 
the convoy that was to sail for the west, past 
the Norwegian coast. A westerly wind having 
prevailed for near a month, several convoys ar- 
rived, bound up and down the Baltic ; conse- 
quently a larger fleet was gathered there than 
was ever before known — or perhaps ever known 
in any part of the world. As it would not be 
safe for these large convoys to get under way 



38 REMINISCENCES OF 

and sail through the channels for the Baltic, or 
along the coast of Norway, unless favored with 
a strong and propitious wind, the vessels thus 
gathered in the roads numbered over twelve hun- 
dred, extending from the entrance of the roads — 
which there was six miles wide — up the river 
for at least ten miles. And there were vessels 
of all sizes and classes, — ships of the line, frigates, 
gun brigs, first-class merchant ships, down to little 
schooners under various German flags. An east 
wind being favorable for the convoys both up 
and down the Baltic, and a strong breeze having 
sprung up, the fleet commenced to weigh their 
anchors, beginning with the ships of the line, and 
frigates — about fifteen in number — nearest the en- 
trance of the roads, and the vessels higher up 
the river following in succession. It required 
from early sunrise until late at night before they 
could all pass out. From a high point of land 
about fifty Americans then in Gothenburg witnessed 
this sight, such as I presume was never before 
witnessed on earth, — a fleet of twelve hundred 
vessels under way at one time. A few days 
after the sailing of the fleet, a violent gale arose, 
and while passing up through the Belt or entrance 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 39 

to the Baltic, over one hundred of the vessels, 
mostly of the smaller class, were wrecked, or cap- 
tured by boats that put out from the Danish 
ports. Over two hundred vessels, some of large 
size, returned to Wingo Roads, some with loss of 
sails, cables, and anchors, and otherwise injured, 
and requiring considerable repairs before they could 
resume their voyages. The fleet that sailed west- 
ward for England did not suffer by the gale, as 
they passed through an open sea, and were not 
thus exposed to either capture or wreck. 

It being now fully determined that we were 
to spend the winter in Sweden, Mr. Lawrence 
and I determined that we would together seek 
good comfortable apartments or lodgings in the 
neighborhood of a restaurant, where we could get 
our meals. We were fortunate enough to procure 
two very handsome rooms, being part of a suite 
of apartments belonging to General Count Wrangel. 
The basement or ground floor was occupied by 
shops ; the second floor by the Bishop of Goth- 
enburg — Bishop Wingord — whom I had met at 
the great dinner party; the third floor by Count 
Wrangel, the countess being the bishop's daughter. 
There were seven rooms beside vestibule and 



40 REMINISCENCES OF 

kitchen on this floor, and the countess, having no 
children, could spare the two rooms at the end 
of the suite without inconvenience. They were 
handsomely furnished, and once during the winter, 
when the countess invited us to an entertainment, 
the communicating door was opened and our 
rooms were added to the suite. A wide stone 
stairway led to the top of the house, while a 
porter at the front door received all messages 
and delivered them as directed. The count's 
waiter — an excellent man named Mortinson — pro- 
vided our breakfast of coffee and bread, and we 
dined at an early hour at a neighboring restau- 
rant, and found everything comfortable. It rarely 
happens among a number of our countrymen re- 
siding in a foreign land that such a good feeling 
exists as among those at that time in Sweden. 
A constant friendly intercourse was kept up by 
visits and associations at each other's lodgings, 
and thus we were enabled to communicate to 
each other all the news from friends and corre- 
spondents at home, as well as whatever related 
to our interests in the political and commercial 
affairs of the neighboring countries of Europe. 
We from Philadelphia, with some others, had our 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 4 1 

lodgings within the walls of the city, while our 
New England friends preferred the suburb called 
Massthuget, where I first landed. There, many- 
occupied rooms in a small hotel kept by a Scotch- 
man named Todd, at whose " table d'hote " many 
of us from the city would often meet, making a 
large party almost exclusively of Americans. 

In connection with these visits to Todd's hotel, 
I am now about to relate an accidental occurrence 
which had a very pleasant influence on my subse- 
quent life in Sweden. The road from the city to 
Massthuget, after passing through the city gate, was 
over a narrow causeway about three hundred yards 
long, on each side of which was a swamp and no 
houses. One day in passing from the city, when 
about half-way across this causeway, there came a 
sudden squall of wind, with a heavy shower. For- 
tunately I had brought my umbrella, and while rais- 
ing it, I noticed a young lady, handsomely clothed, 
in utter despair at the prospect of the ruin of her 
dress and bonnet before she could reach shelter. 
I met her immediately, and placed my raised um- 
brella in her hand, and turned in the opposite 
direction on my way. She was much embarrassed, 
and made protestations which I could not under- 



42 REMINISCENCES OF 

stand, but mentioned only to her the name of the 
merchant with whom I transacted business in the 
city, and then pursued my way, with a good drench- 
ing, which I did not regard. On my return to the 
city I found my umbrella at the office. About 
this time I had begun to understand many words 
in ordinary use in Swedish, and it occurred to me 
that as I was to remain some months in the coun- 
try, I would endeavor to obtain boarding in some 
family where, the English language not being spoken, 
I should of necessity have to acquire the Swedish. 
I therefore requested my good friend, the clerk in 
the counting-room, to make inquiries for me. He 
told me that he dined with a very respectable family 
who accommodated a very few boarders, and possi- 
bly the lady would receive Mr. Lawrence and me 
at her table. The next day I was much disap- 
pointed when he told me that Mrs. Beck, having 
three daughters, was unwilling to receive foreign 
gentlemen into her family. Some days after, he 
seemed much pleased to inform me that Mrs. Beck 
authorized him to ask me to take dinner with him 
the next day. I then accompanied him, and being 
introduced to the ladies, it was an agreeable sur- 
prise to the whole party to find that one of the 



SEVEN YEARS OB EARLY LIFE. 43 

daughters and I had made acquaintance ort the 
causeway when I presented the umbrella. The good 
old lady was very eloquent in her acknowledg- 
ments, the tenor of which I could only imagine by 
her grateful manner of grasping both my hands. 
Miss Frederika also seemed much pleased to re- 
new the acquaintance commenced on the causeway. 
After dinner Mrs. Beck, through Mr. Minten — my 
friend the clerk — told me that she would be happy 
to receive me at her table, being well assured that 
the objection she had at first made was not appli- 
cable to me. She consented also to receive Mr. 
Lawrence, and I can gratefully say the dear old 
lady treated me as a son, for the two years I 
boarded in her house, and every member of the 
family showed me the kindness and confidence 
which made me feel quite at home. The youngest 
daughter, Lotta, a little girl ten years of age, was 
accustomed to sit on my knee and teach me Swed- 
ish phrases, and under her merry teachings I soon 
found myself quite at ease at the table and in 
the family circle. I cannot sufficiently express my 
obligation to this amiable family, not only for the 
enjoyment of a cheerful home, but for the great 
help and advantage gained in acquiring the Swedish 



44 REMINISCENCES OF 

language, by means of which, in my business trans- 
actions and in my journeys through the land, I was 
freed from all embarrassment in speaking the lan- 
guage. Thus passed the three months of the year 
after I dispatched my ships home. During this time 
the city was excited by the arrival of the Crown 
Princess, wife of General Bernadotte, who just then 
had been elected heir and successor of Charles XIII., 
King of Sweden. She was accompanied by her son, 
since then, after the death of his father, crowned 
King Oscar. His son has since succeeded as 
Charles XV. — three generations in all on the throne 
since I saw Oscar, a lad of thirteen years of age, 
saluted by the military on parade, on the square at 
Gothenburg. 

In January, 1811, in company with Mr. Rich- 
ards, of Boston, I set out on a journey to Stock- 
holm, the capital of the country. I had by this 
time experienced and gained sufficient knowledge 
of the severity of the winter climate, and gov- 
erned myself accordingly. In addition to my usual 
winter clothing, I put on two linen shirts, a pair 
of overalls lined with wool, a pair of sheep-skin 
long boots, with the wool inside; over my sur- 
tout a fur coat, and a fur cap with lappets cov- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 45 

ering the ears, and finally a silk handkerchief tied 
across the face over the nose. Thus prepared, 
and with the thermometer at thirty degrees below- 
zero, we started. We sent forward the usual " for- 
bud," and found the peasants' carts set on sledges. 
The seats were low, say only a (qw inches from 
the floor of the cart or sledge, so that the legs 
and feet could be extended on the hay or straw 
spread on the floor, and then protected by blan- 
kets or other covering. The driver sat either 
upon a high stool, fixed behind the sled upon 
the runners, which projected three feet or more, 
and thus drove with the reins above the heads 
of the passengers, who sat low in the sled; or 
sometimes on a seat on one side in front, and in 
either case so arranged that he could jump from 
his seat, and with one hand on the sled, would 
run for a considerable distance, thus keeping his 
blood warm. They were generally clad in sheep- 
skin coats with wool inside, and frequently boots 
of the same. When the thermometer is below 
zero in Sweden there is seldom much wind, and 
therefore, when properly clad, there is actually less 
suffering from cold than I have often experienced 
in riding in stages in my youth in America, with 



46 REMINISCENCES OI 

thermometer little below freezing-point. Our com- 
panion on the sled was a Swedish captain, who 
spoke English, and gave us much information re- 
garding the country, and drew the peasant drivers 
into conversation, which gave us opportunities of 
observing their frank and obliging disposition and 
character, ever ready to comply with our requests 
about driving fast or slow. 

The first evening of our journey we arrived at 
Norkoping, which is described as situated in a fer- 
tile and beautiful country, but of which we could 
not judge in its winter dress. It is a city of 
considerable size, and we found ourselves com- 
fortably accommodated. Very early in the evening 
our companion, the Swedish captain, introduced a 
friend who invited us to a dancing assembly, of 
which he was a manager. We objected on account 
of our traveling dress being unsuited to such a 
company. He said being introduced as traveling 
visitors, it would not be remarked, and I must 
acknowledge I did not require much pressing. 
We found a company assembled of about one 
hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, to whom 
we were introduced as American travelers, and 
were cordially received. It was evident that few 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 47 

of our countrymen had been met with in that 
neighborhood, and we had many inquiries respect- 
ing our country and climate. I was asked if we 
had snow, and if it was not something new to 
me to travel in sleds. They seemed to think 
ours was a tropical climate, like Mexico or the 
West Indies. Being asked to dance, I was intro- 
duced to a young lady about eighteen years of 
age, who I was told was governess in the family 
of a nobleman, and who spoke French fluently. 
Having had a thorough instruction in this lan- 
guage, I had no difficulty in conversing with my 
partner. She was very pretty, and very intelli- 
gent, but I was exceedingly amused with her 
questions about American habits, customs, and 
manners. She expressed doubts of my being an 
American, and thought I must be English, I was 
so fair. She thought my fellow - traveler, Mr. 
Richards, might possibly be so — Mr. R. was of 
dark complexion, but not remarkably so. I asked 
her if she had never met before with Americans? 
She hesitated a moment, and then said she had 
seen one who had been wrecked on the coast, 
and then passed through the town. She said he 
was an ofrker of the ship ; she believed he was 



4° REMINISCENCES OF 

the cook. I laughed heartily, and explained to her 
that he probably was a negro or African. My 
partner and I became very sociable, and danced 
together three times during the evening. I always 
remembered my visit to the dancing assembly at 
Norkoping with great pleasure. 

It is not surprising that so little was known 
of the United States, at the time of which I 
am writing, in the north of Europe. Our inde- 
pendence as a nation had been recognized only 
about thirty years previous ; and in fact, it is only 
since the strength and resources of the Govern- 
ment have been developed in subduing the Re- 
bellion in the South that the nations of Europe 
have learned to respect our rights. 

Having resumed our journey, we arrived the 
next day at Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden, 
and residence of the King and royal family. 
Here we spent a week visiting the royal palace 
and the neighboring country palaces of Haga and 
Drottningholm, to which we made excursions by 
sledges on the frozen lake Malar, on the islands 
of which lake Stockholm is built, and in that 
particular resembles Venice. After visiting many 
objects of interest, which I will not undertake to 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 49 

describe, we made preparations for our journey to 
Upsala, and thence to the iron mines of Danne- 
mora, which I was very curious to visit, having 
never seen mines of any kind. Upsala is about 
forty miles from Stockholm. It is the see of an 
archbishop, who is the primate of the church in 
Sweden. The cathedral is a venerable building, 
containing many monuments, among others those 
of Gustavus Vasa and Linnaeus. The great Uni- 
versity of Sweden also is here, founded in 1447, 
provided with over forty professors, and having 
eight hundred and fifty students. In the library 
are over one hundred thousand volumes, among 
which are many rare works and manuscripts, par- 
ticularly the " Codex Argenteus " of the Gospels, 
in Gothic, as translated by Bishop Urfilus at the 
end of the fourth century. The gardens and 
green-house of Linnaeus are also here. It being 
winter, we could only visit the green-house, which 
contained many plants and trees of various climates. 
The building was divided into three parts, differing 
in temperature, beginning with one at forty, and in- 
creasing in each; the last being eighty degrees. The 
transition from the temperature of eighty degrees 
in the greenhouse to twenty degrees below zero out- 

4 



50 REMINISCENCES OF 

side, was as if the lungs had suddenly collapsed, and 
for a time we could only breathe through some- 
thing covering the mouth and nostril. In the last 
there was a beautiful bird called cockatoo, which 
talked to every one that approached, and was said 
to be eighty years old. 

Having presented letters of introduction to some 
of the professors, we received their visits and atten- 
tions, which were pleasant, and instructive on many 
subjects ; several of them spoke English, French, and 
German. 

After two days spent in Upsala, we started on 
our journey to Dannemora to visit the iron mines. 
The thermometer was forty degrees below zero, and 
we stopped willingly at stations about every ten 
miles. At one of these — a small log house with a 
loft over it, warmed by a large brick stove — I was 
much interested in an old woman teaching about a 
dozen children, of ages from seven to ten years. I 
asked if she kept a public school, but was informed 
that having several children of her own, she took 
those of her near neighbors with them, and received 
payment for their tuition, in rye flour, cabbage, 
beans, and other vegetables, which constitute in a 
great measure the provisions of the peasantry. She 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 5 I 

seemed quite proud to have the strangers hear the 
children read and repeat the answers to her ques- 
tions in the catechism of the Lutheran Church, all 
which they did creditably for children of their age. 
I was amused with two very small pigs, running 
about the room ; and on the floor was a child about 
eighteen months old, supping with a spoon a basin 
of porridge or gruel, which attracted the little pigs 
to the great annoyance of the child, who, with loud 
remonstrance, would whack their heads with the 
spoon, making them squeal, only to return again to 
their trespass. 

We arrived at Dannemora a little before twelve 
o'clock, noon, and stood on the platform near the 
entrance of the shaft of the principal mine, waiting 
until the explosion of the drills in the quarries be- 
low took place. The ore is imbedded in rock, and 
must be drilled and blasted with powder. This is 
done at noon, when, the fuses being lighted, the 
miners retire to a distance in the shaft, and the 
explosions take place in quick succession ; and to 
us, standing at the mouth of this shaft, which is 
five hundred feet deep, it sounded like thunder 
from the bowels of the earth. Preparations being 
made to descend, three of us crouched down in a 



52 REMINISCENCES OF 

big tub, or half hogshead, while a miner stood on 
the edge of the tub, holding to the chain by which 
it was lowered, smoking his pipe unconcernedly, 
and holding in his left hand a bunch of blazing 
pine knots, which soon were required in the dark- 
ness, as we descended the five hundred feet to the 
bottom of the mine. I was startled when about 
half way down by a sudden rush of air, which I 
soon saw was an ascending tub ; the capstan, or 
wheel, which lowered the tub we were in, hoisted, 
at the same time, the loaded tub with the ore. 
When we reached the bottom, the mine presented 
the appearance of a great stone quarry, divided into 
rooms and galleries, and lighted by fires of pitch- 
pine knots, which the miners kept burning near 
where they were drilling the rock, and which looked 
like so many bonfires in our city on election night. 
We walked around a considerable distance among 
them, and were told that many of them, in the 
winter season, continued below for weeks, it being 
not so cold as above; the food being supplied to 
them by their families. These mines have been 
worked for more than three centuries, and produce 
the finest iron in the world; much of it being ex- 
ported to England, where it brings a much higher 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 53 

price than any other iron, and is extensively manu- 
factured into steel. We were glad to land safely 
on the platform, in open daylight again, after a visit 
deeper in the earth than is usually performed. Re- 
turning to Upsala, we entertained the few friends 
who had kindly received us on our arrival, and the 
next morning one of them — an officer in the Swe- 
dish navy, who had been in the United States — 
accompanied us to the first station on our journey 
towards Stockholm, where he produced a basket 
with a plentiful lunch, and a bottle of wine, which, 
however, in the short time occupied in traveling 
ten miles, was found to be frozen solid, and could 
not be used. 

Arriving at Stockholm, we spent two days in 
that city, and then returned to Gothenburg. There 
we spent the winter months cheerfully in our Amer- 
ican circle, with occasional invitations into Swedish 
society. In Mrs. Beck's family I profited greatly 
in acquiring a knowledge of the Swedish language 
and manners, which very much facilitated my inter- 
course with the natives. 

In the spring of the year 1811, the Americans 
became dissatisfied that the office of American con- 
sul was held — or rather the seal was held — by an 



54 REMINISCENCES OF 

Englishman, who signed as " acting American con- 
sul;" as his authority was doubtful, the Americans at 
Gothenburg held a meeting, and appointed a com- 
mittee to wait on him and inquire as to his com- 
mission. It was then found that many years before 
that, he had been clerk to the former consul or vice 
consul, who had died, and whose widow he married, 
and had thus become possessed of the seal of the 
United States. Upon learning these facts, another 
meeting of the Americans took place, and resolu- 
tions were adopted, declaring that the person then 
exercising the office had no authority, of which they 
notified the Swedish authorities. The meeting then 
instructed their secretary to inform the American 
minister at Stockholm of these facts, and request 
him to appoint an American to the office, to which 
he replied that if they would designate one of their 
number, he would grant him the commission. Mr. 
John Diamond, of Philadelphia, being ' nominated, 
Mr. Speyer sent him his commission, which, being 
presented to the authorities, was duly recognized. 
Mr. Diamond acted as consul for about three months, 
when, being called home to Philadelphia, another 
meeting was held, when Richard S. Smith was unani- 
mously elected, and received the commission from 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 55 

the American minister. Being then only twenty-two 
years of age, I was the youngest American in Goth- 
enburg. I presume I was chosen mainly on account 
of my greater familiarity with the Swedish language 
and customs than others of my countrymen, who 
had not studied equally to acquire the knowledge 
of them. I continued to act as consul until the 
early part of November, 1811, when Mr. Anderson, 
of Baltimore, arrived with the commission of consul 
from the Secretary of State. Mr. Anderson very soon 
found that the office was entirely unsuited to him ; 
the pecuniary compensation being inadequate to his 
support, and the climate too severe for his consti- 
tution. He had formerly been consul at a port in 
the south of France, and the contrast between the 
climate there and that of Sweden was so appalling 
that he rarely stepped out of the door of his lodg- 
ings, and always had his meals brought to him from 
a restaurant, which was not fifty yards distant. He 
had not been a week in the city before he asked 
me to continue to perform the duties of the office, 
and gave me the regular commission of vice consul, 
which he was authorized to do, and which, being 
accordingly recognized by the Swedish authorities, 
I held until I returned to the United States in the 



$6 REMINISCENCES OF 

following year. Very early in the spring of the next 
year, Mr. Anderson returned to the south of France. 
While the office of consul was of no pecuniary ad- 
vantage to me, it introduced me into much agree- 
able society of the city, including the family of the 
governor, Count Rosen ; and as all vessels under 
the American flag that came into the port were 
bound to report to me before they could enter, I 
was made acquainted with much that was useful in 
relation to the trade and commerce of the North. 
In the early months of the year 1812, war was de- 
clared between France and Russia, and Napoleon, 
withdrawing his armies from Spain, made prepara- 
tion to march through Germany to invade Russia. 
While Denmark remained in alliance with France, 
Sweden joined Russia, and as Napoleon advanced, 
the Crown Prince of Sweden marched ten thousand 
men to the vicinity of Gothenburg, which held Den- 
mark in check, so that no Danish troops could be 
sent to join the French, as it would leave Copen- 
hagen open to attack. I was much interested in 
viewing the exercises of this army. While many 
were encamped near the town, a great number were 
billeted on the inhabitants. They were country 
troops, something of the character of militia, living 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. $7 

on crown lands, and liable to be called out for the 
defense of the country, but otherwise not in ordinary- 
service. I found them always civil, orderly, and 
quiet. At early morning I noticed they were col- 
lected in squads or companies, when a subaltern 
would inspect their arms and clothing, and after a 
critical survey, would read a prayer for their rulers 
and country, and then they would sing a psalm. 
This prayer and psalm were used every day in 
every regiment in the land, and on one occasion, 
after a review of the ten thousand, they were formed 
into a hollow square, the regimental bands in front 
of each regiment, when the leaders of the voices 
stepped out in front, and the bands starting the 
familiar air of the psalm, the ten thousand voices 
were raised in a grander chorus than I ever heard 
before or since. The swelling tones of this grand 
chorus were heard for miles distant, and I cannot 
describe the solemn effect on the silent listeners in 
the distance. 

In connection with the march of the French army 
I must relate a curious history of a regiment of Span- 
ish cavalry attached thereto. It will be remembered 
when Napoleon invaded Spain, he placed his brother 
Joseph on the Spanish throne. He then raised a 



58 REMINISCENCES OF 

considerable number of Spanish regiments, which he 
embodied in the French army. When he finally 
withdrew his army from Spain, to march to the in- 
vasion of Russia, he drew out with him these Spanish 
regiments, who, being incorporated in his army, could 
not help but submit to his discipline. When the 
division of the French army to which one of these 
cavalry regiments was attached halted for a night 
at a place in Schleswig, a Danish province border- 
ing on the Little Belt, which is a strait about twelve 
miles wide, running from the Cattegat to the Baltic, 
through which the British convoys passed and re- 
passed — this regiment, in the night, suddenly de- 
serted, and rapidly marched towards this strait, very 
soon after daylight pursued by French cavalry. 
Arriving on the shore, they found numerous trans- 
ports waiting their arrival, and they were conveyed 
with all speed to the British ships-of-war, but no 
means of transport being provided for the horses, 
they were compelled to abandon them. These ani- 
mals, left to themselves, rushed wildly over the beach 
until finally they formed themselves into two divi- 
sions or battalions, as they had been accustomed, 
and after wheeling and manoeuvring, charged each 
other furiously, then wheeling and returning, charged 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. $9 

again, killing and wounding many of their number 
before their French pursuers arrived. This conflict 
of the animals attracted much notice and remark 
throughout Europe, and great sympathy was felt for 
the Spaniards who escaped from their French mas- 
ters. 

While all the nations of Europe were interested 
and excited by the movements of these great armies 
marching to the conflict, which is a history never 
to be forgotten, resulting, finally, two years after this, 
in the overthrow of Napoleon and the French Em- 
pire, we Americans had our own sources of trouble 
and anxiety in the existing relations between the 
United States and England. The many captures 
and detentions of American ships, under the British 
Orders in Council, excited strong feelings of resent- 
ment against England, and the protracted session of 
Congress, sitting frequently with closed doors, made 
us look forward with some anxiety to the future. 
There was neither telegraph nor steamer in those 
days, and all news from home was received only 
through the English newspapers, or by merchant 
ships direct to northern ports. We daily met and 
communicated every item of news any one of us ob- 
tained by letter, or otherwise, and many were the sug- 



60 ; REMINISCENCES OF 

gestions and plans devised for the security of prop- 
erty at risk in case of war. In the month of July, it 
was the Swedish law that every vessel arriving from 
America should come to anchor in the quarantine 
harbor, fourteen miles from the city ; being boarded 
by the master of the quarantine, the necessary mani- 
fest of cargo and clearance, etc., were exhibited, and 
a memorandum thereof made and immediately des- 
patched by a boat to the proper health officer at 
the city. Being anxious to be promptly advised of 
every arrival, I made arrangements with the man 
who navigated the boat between the station and 
the city, that he should exhibit to me the papers 
of all American vessels before he took them to the 
health office. There was no breach of trust in this. 
The papers were open to inspection, and I could 
at any moment inspect them upon application to 
the office ; but the vessels arriving frequently at an 
early hour in the morning, I was usually the first 
to get any news. 

It so happened that on the morning of the 23d 
of July, 1812, between five and six o'clock, the quar- 
antine boy brought me the papers of the pilot-boat 
schooner Champlain, cleared by Minturn & Cham- 
plin, in ballast from New York to Eastport in Maine. 



SE VEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. 6 1 

It was so clear to my mind that this vessel was 
despatched with most important intelligence affect- 
ing the interests of this principal New York mer- 
cantile house, that I did not hesitate a moment, 
but procured a boat, and in less than an hour, 
with my consular commission in my pocket, I 
was on my way to the quarantine ground. Arriv- 
ing there, I called on the old officer in charge and 
told him I wished to communicate at once with the 
schooner, expecting there might be letters of im- 
portance for various houses in Sweden and Den- 
mark to be forwarded. The good man readily com- 
plied with my wishes, but it being contrary to the 
rules of quarantine, I was not allowed to go on 
board, and the old officer therefore passed my com- 
mission up to the captain of the schooner, who, hav- 
ing read it, said he recognized me as the consul, 
but was a good deal annoyed to be detained even 
a day before he could visit the city and forward 
important letters to various correspondents of his 
owners. I told him I would facilitate his intentions 
by all the means in my power, and added as there 
could be no doubt the information to be thus con- 
veyed was of a character highly important to all 
Americans in charge of vessels and property in 



62 REMINISCENCES OF 

neighboring ports, I thought he should communi- 
cate freely with me, whose duty it was to protect 
the interests of his countrymen within my reach. 
He said that being entrusted with a commission 
affecting the private interests of the house which 
had despatched the vessel, he was not at liberty to 
say more. Apprehending that he might be unwilling 
to speak out in the presence of another, I asked the 
Swede if he would land on the rocks in sight of 
the schooner, and allow me the use of his skiff, that 
I might have a confidential talk with the captain; 
he consenting to this, I rowed out alone in the boat, 
and told the captain of the schooner that I feared 
war had been declared against England, and if so, 
I ought to be informed, as there were millions of 
dollars at stake which I could protect and secure 
if I were clearly advised of the fact. He repeated 
his former assertion, that he had a commission to 
perform for his owners, and he could not go beyond 
that. I directed his attention to a fleet of several 
hundred vessels lying in Wingo Roads, distant a 
mile from the quarantine ground. I told him I 
knew of over forty vessels — American — in that fleet, 
waiting English convoys, and of course under the 
guns of the British cruisers. I told him he must 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 6$ 

be aware that the English had great facilities in 
receiving and forwarding all important information 
affecting their interests, and doubtless the English 
admiral would have the information within a day or 
two ; and it would be a lasting sorrow to him to 
know that one word in confidence to me might save 
millions to his countrymen, which otherwise, by his 
silence, would be captured by an enemy. At this 
he was much agitated, and said he could not in that 
view of the case remain silent. He said war was de- 
clared by Act of Congress on the 17th day of June, 
and that on the next day Commodore Rodgers had 
sailed to look for British cruisers off Halifax, and 
no doubt hostilities had commenced. He said he 
had letters to be forwarded to Copenhagen and St. 
Petersburg ; that his owners had vessels in Baltic 
ports, and it was important that these letters should 
go forward. I told him / would forward these 
letters, and he therefore gave them to me, and said 
he would then immediately sail for St. Petersburg, 
as he was instructed to do. Having obtained this 
important information, with a strong and fair wind I 
hurried back to the city, and hastily assembling the 
Americans in my office — where I found many wait- 
ing, and wondering what had called me off so early 



64 REMINISCENCES OF 

in the day — I astonished and startled them by the 
news I had to communicate. Some of them were 
captains of vessels lying down in the roads under 
convoy, and were crazy to get to their ships. The 
wind, which had been so fair to bring me up to the 
city, was now almost a gale against a passage down. 
It was then suggested that we should all set to work 
writing a circular, which I prepared, and that a horse 
and carriage should be procured, with which two or 
three of the number should proceed to Marstrand, 
a seaport a few miles to windward, from which by 
boat the fleet could readily be reached, and the circu- 
lars delivered to the American vessels, warning them, 
unless they weighed their anchors and ran up the 
river above the Swedish batteries, they were liable 
at any moment to British capture. All parties were 
cautioned to keep strict silence in the city until 
these vessels were secured. Happily the expedition 
to Marstrand and thence to the fleet was a success, 
and before the next morning the vessels — I think 
over forty in number — were safe under the protec- 
tion of the Swedish batteries, to the great surprise of 
the British officers, who wondered what had got 
into the Yankees that they had all gone up the 
river. I forwarded immediately the letters received 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 65 

from the captain of the schooner, by post, retaining 
only one, directed to a Gothenburg firm, one of whose 
partners was the English consul. This letter was 
not delivered until all our arrangements for the 
security of American property had been made. 
When delivered, late in the next day, the members 
of the firm were very indignant, and threatened with 
angry words to call me to account ; but I never 
heard anything more of it thereafter. 

After our meeting I despatched letters to our 
ministers in Stockholm and St. Petersburg, — Mr. 
Speyer and John Quincy Adams, — which was the 
first news that either one received of the declara- 
tion of war. My attention was next directed to se- 
cure our American vessels in the Baltic. Knowing 
that they would seek English convoy through the 
straits before mentioned, called the Belt, and that 
they would therefore join the fleet for that purpose 
in a harbor near the Swedish port of Carlshamn, and 
being unwilling to trust the communication of the 
news to a messenger, I resolved to undertake the 
journey myself. The distance to Carlshamn was 
about three hundred miles, and the journey was to 
be made by the usual mode ; but as there was no 
time to send a forbud, I knew I should have to wait 



66 REMINISCENCES OF 

in most cases until the horses would be brought in. 
To avoid this it occurred to me that I would de- 
mand a courier's pass, which would entitle me to 
take horses wherever they happened to be at sta- 
tions, even although they might have been engaged 
for others. I accordingly waited on the governor 
and told him I had important business connected 
with my consular office, and that I should esteem 
it a favor if he would grant me such a passport for 
Carlshamn. He readily granted my request, and 
early in the evening I was on my way alone. In 
the beginning of my journey, I had not to wait long 
for horses, but towards midnight I had to rouse the 
occupants of the stations, and if no horses were on 
hand they were obliged to send out to the neigh- 
boring farmers to bring them in. They could not 
demur when I presented the courier's passport, for 
they knew that a record on the Post Book, kept at 
the station, stating the fact of neglect or refusal, and 
signed by the American consul, would bring the 
officer in charge of the station into trouble. I had 
therefore, little reason to complain, but I feared at 
any time to lie down while waiting, fearing they 
might delay should I fall asleep. I thus traveled 
two days and three nights, starting from Gothenburg 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 6? 

on Thursday afternoon, and arriving at the harbor 
near Carlshamn early on Sunday morning. I imme- 
diately obtained a boat, and observing one of the 
ships with the name on the stern, " Caliban, of Bos- 
ton," I went on board and introduced myself to the 
captain, and through him to two gentlemen, one 
of whom was supercargo and the other a passen- 
ger. They very soon complied with my request 
to send aboard some six or eight vessels under 
American colors, requesting their captains to come 
at once to meet me on board the Caliban. In a 
very short time they were assembled, and appeared 
much startled at the news, but it seemed to me 
that some of them were not very prompt to 
decide what action to take. Being, however, a 
good deal fatigued by my journey, I told them 
that, having communicated the fact of the decla- 
ration of war, I should leave it to them to de- 
cide how they should proceed, and after being 
allowed a few hours to sleep, I should meet them 
again before I returned to Gothenburg, where it was 
important I should get back as early as possible. 
Having directed that I should be called at noon, I 
found only three or four of the captains waiting to 
meet me, and was surprised to learn that they had 



68 REMINISCENCES OF 

come to no decision. It was argued by some that 
we knew in Europe that the British Orders in Council 
were revoked, which fact was not known in Congress 
when war was declared, and it was to be presumed 
that hostilities might not therefore ensue. I did not 
hesitate to say that it was a fearful risk to rush into 
danger of capture on such fallacious ideas. It being 
very foggy at the time, the captain and supercargo 
of the Caliban told me they thought they would 
decide to run up to Carlshamn, under cover of the 
Swedish fort, as soon as the fog cleared away. When 
about to leave the ship to return on shore, Mr. 
Charles Story, of Salem, Massachusetts, who was a 
passenger on board one of the ships, asked me if I 
would allow him to accompany me to Gothenburg, 
as he had no wish to be detained a prisoner. I told 
him my passport was only for one person, and I 
feared, therefore, that he might be detained on the 
road, and have to write to the minister, at Stock- 
holm, to obtain a passport. I suggested to him, at 
last, that possibly I might pass him off as my atten- 
dant, or servant ; and he was willing thus to take 
his chance. We passed on for a distance without 
any question. When we approached a town where 
an officer usually asked for the passport, I arranged 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 69 

that Mr. Story should alight and walk through the 
town, and wait for me on the other side. On arriv- 
ing at Gothenburg we found the English admiral 
had received the news of the war, and we further 
learned that Commodore Rodgers had chased the 
English frigate Belvidere into Halifax, that frigate 
having been obliged to throw over her guns to 
lighten her, in her effort to escape. As Mr. Story 
had been surprised at the apparent indecision of the 
captains of the American ships near Carlshamn, he 
thought if he could prove to them that war was 
being actively carried on, they might seek shelter 
at Carlshamn ; he accordingly determined to return 
to the ships, and apprise them thereof. I procured 
him the necessary passport, and he started back, 
and arrived at the port only a few hours after the 
fleet had sailed, and he returned much disappointed. 
A few days afterwards this fleet arrived in Wingo 
Roads, and the supercargo of the Caliban was al- 
lowed to land. He came to my office, a most 
despairing, unhappy man. He said he feared to 
meet his owners, in Boston, after having received 
the warning I had given him, and exposed himself 
to capture. It seems the British commander did 
not interfere until three days after the fleet had 



70 REMINISCENCES OF 

sailed, when, meeting another British frigate, and 
exchanging some signals, he sent a prize crew on 
board, and took possession of the Caliban. We now 
learned the cause of the indifference of the other 
captains, to whom I gave the news when we met 
on board the Caliban. It seems they had British 
licenses to load hemp, canvas, and iron at St. Peters- 
burg, to be delivered for English account in Eng- 
land. They had not thought proper to announce 
this fact to me, or to the supercargo of the Cali- 
ban, and no doubt their confidence induced him to 
think they were safe to proceed. The ship was 
taken to Harwich, and there ship and cargo were 
condemned and sold at a loss to the owners of 
probably one hundred thousand dollars, for no in- 
surance policy would cover the war risk unless 
specially agreed, which no company would consent 
to do after the war had commenced. 

I now, at my return to Gothenburg, found I had 
new duties and difficulties to encounter in my office. 
It was very soon evident that the crews of the ships 
that had run in to escape capture, could no longer 
be kept on board at a heavy expense for wages and 
provisions. The captains, therefore, commenced to 
discharge the crews, paying such wages as might 



SE VEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. 7 1 

be due. I was compelled to resist this, as the laws 
of the United States require that when seamen are 
discharged, three months' wages, over and above 
the amount due, be paid to the consul, which addi- 
tional amount shall be applied to the maintenance 
of the seaman until he can obtain other employ- 
ment or a passage home in some other vessel ; 
the balance, if any, to be paid him. I demanded, 
therefore, the three months' additional wages, which 
was refused on the ground that the government, 
having declared war, and made it unsafe for the 
vessels to prosecute their voyages, they could not 
be held by this law, which under the circumstances 
would be unjust. I told the captains it was my 
duty to the seamen to see the law fulfilled, and 
when therefore any seaman was discharged and re- 
ported to me, I immediately sent him on board again 
in charge of a police officer, who demanded his pay 
or fee for the service ; and thus, after some days' 
conflict, the captains agreed to compromise for two 
months' pay. The amount being paid to me, their 
crews were discharged. 

And now began a new trouble. There were at 
least two hundred seamen thus discharged; they re- 
ceived the money due to them, apart from the nd- 



72 REMINISCENCES OF 

ditional month's wages paid me, and with this money 
to spend, it may be conceived they got into rows 
and drunken frolics, and found their way into the 
guard-house and prison, and in consequence I was 
summoned daily to appear in their behalf before the 
city authorities, who in many instances inflicted fines, 
imprisonment, and, in some flagrant cases, flogging 
at the whipping-post Added to this, the settlement 
for their board, with the landlords, was a perpetual 
source of trouble and difference as to the amounts 
charged. Finally, after about six weeks, when the 
funds were used up, beyond which I had also to 
advance a considerable amount, I was relieved by 
their engaging on board vessels of other nations, 
and thus got rid of a heavy responsibility. Soon 
after this I received letters from my father, urging 
my return home, directing me to leave the prop- 
erty I had in charge with Mr. Redman Lawrence, of 
Philadelphia, who had been my fellow-lodger for two 
years, and who had also a large consignment of goods 
— principally coffee — stored in the city. And here 
I may mention that Mr. Lawrence did not finally 
close the sale of these goods for nearly three years 
after this time, when, after the defeat of Napoleon, 
the ports in the Baltic were opened to trade. Hav- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 73 

ing completed my arrangements for my return home, 
I resigned my office, and took leave of my many 
kind friends. When it came to parting with my old 
friend, Mrs. Beck, and her family, there was an un- 
doubted expression of affectionate sympathy and re- 
gret at a farewell, probably never to meet again in 
this world. My merry little friend and teacher, 
Lotta, seemed inconsolable at losing her scholar. 
Some days previous to my departure, I received a 
letter from a friend in Copenhagen, introducing a 
young lad, named Brentzon, brother to the governor 
of St. Croix, who was desirous to join his brother, 
but not speaking English, his friends desired I should 
let him accompany me, and accordingly we took 
passage together on the English packet which plied 
between Gothenburg and Harwich. We managed 
to understand each other, he speaking Danish and I 
Swedish, there being about as much resemblance 
between the languages as I have noticed between 
the language of different counties in England. The 
packet was a small vessel, and we experienced very 
stormy weather, and were thirteen days on the pas- 
sage, which was usually made in five days. Landing 
at Harwich, we spent the night there, and started 
next morning in the mail stage for London. A 



74 REMINISCENCES OF 

young Swede who came by the packet accompanied 
us, and we found an old Englishman, who made up 
the number required for the inside of the mail stage. 
We started an hour before daylight, and our con- 
versation was carried on in Swedish and Danish. 
The air being close in the stage, I asked the old 
Englishman to let down the window, which having 
done, he asked me what countryman I was. I told 
him I was an American. He asked me if that was 
the American language I was speaking with the 
others. I told him I was speaking the language of 
my country with him. He said he knew that there 
were many Englishmen in America, but he always 
supposed that we had a language of our own. 
Thus it appeared that although we sprung from the 
English nation, there were some of our brethren as 
ignorant respecting us as the Swedes. 

Arriving in London, I obtained lodgings at the 
house of Mrs. Eddy, a lady who formerly resided 
in Philadelphia, but being left a widow by the death 
of her husband in London, had taken a house in 
Red Lion Square, at which many Americans were 
accommodated. I here found among others three 
Philadelphians, Messrs. Wm. Craig, Inskeep, and 
Kingston. Americans, being considered alien ene- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 75 

mies, were obliged to register their names at the 
alien office, when a license was granted, giving per- 
mission to remain in London and its environs, not 
beyond ten miles, but forbidding them to leave the 
city except upon application, and written permission 
granted. 

The day after my arrival I visited the Exchange, 
the Bank of England, and St. Paul's Cathedral. 
While at the Exchange, hearing a great firing of 
cannon, I inquired the cause, and was told it was 
from the guns at the Tower, in honor of the capitu- 
lation of the American army, commanded by General 
Hull, on the borders of Canada. With two other 
Americans I went into a coffee-house, and obtained 
an "extra" newspaper containing the particulars of 
the surrender, which was particularly mortifying, as 
it was the first army that took the field, and there 
was on that account great laughing and jeering 
among the throng at the Exchange. We were 
amply consoled, however, on looking a little further 
into the paper, to notice a paragraph in small type, 
in the column of ship news, that His Majesty's frigate, 
Guerriere, had, after a severe engagement, been cap- 
tured by the American frigate Constitution, Com- 
modore Hull. The Guerriere masts, being rotten or 



7& REMINISCENCES OF 

defective, were carried away early in the action. 
Thus, if the first action on land was a defeat, the 
victory on the ocean, where England was consid- 
ered invincible, more than compensated for our early 
mortification. 

A few days after my arrival in London, Mr. Oc- 
tavius Plummer, of Salem, called on me and in- 
formed me that he had taken passage in the brig 
Catherine for Boston, which vessel, having delivered 
a cargo of hemp under British license obtained be- 
fore the declaration of war, was allowed to return 
to the United States free from liability to capture. 
I had known Mr. Plummer in Sweden, and he was 
very pressing to have me take passage with him. 
Being impatient to get home, I was disposed to join 
him, and requested him to ascertain if I could have 
accommodation on board, and on what terms. In 
the interim, before I received his answer, Mr. .Craig 
pressed me to wait a week longer, and accompany 
him on board the ship Tontine, a cartel ship for 
New York, which being a superior vessel, and bound 
to a port nearer Philadelphia, I agreed to do. Mr. 
Plummer was disappointed and hurt at my decision. 
But it was a merciful Providence that ruled my ac- 
tion in this case, as the Catherine, with Mr. Plum- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 77 

mer on board, never arrived or was heard from after 
she left the river Thames at London. The Sunday 
previous to my departure from London, I visited 
Whitehall chapel, which is connected with the bar- 
racks of the Royal Horse Guards. In this chapel are 
deposited the flags captured by British armies from 
the French, Spanish, and German nations. Among 
these old tattered and dusty trophies we saw the 
fresh and brilliant flags captured from Hull's army, 
which were displayed on that Sunday for the first 
time. It gave us uncomfortable feelings to see our 
stars and stripes in such contrast. 

After reporting myself at the alien office, and 
obtaining license to proceed to Liverpool to embark 
on the cartel ship Tontine, I, in company with Mr. 
Craig, and my fellow-traveller, Mr. Brentzon, the 
young Dane, proceeded to Liverpool and sailed for 
New York on the 1st of December, 1812. We had 
ninety passengers on board, about thirty of whom 
were in a small cabin. We had a rough and un- 
comfortable winter passage of forty-nine days, but 
on receiving our pilot off Sandy Hook, we were en- 
livened by the news of capture of the British frigate 
Macedonian, by the United States frigate United 
States, commanded by Captain Decatur, the intimate 



/8 REMINISCENCES OF 

friend of my father's family. Reaching New York 
on the 19th of January, I was detained two days, 
arriving at my father's house late on the evening 
of the 2 1 st, having occupied more than twelve hours 
on the road by stage, between New York and Phila- 
delphia. The welcome I received I will not attempt 
to describe. Suffice it to say it was all the heart 
could desire, and more than I deserved, were it not 
that I felt my own overflow of love and affection 
to my father and family, fully responded to their 
welcome embraces. 

And here, my dear godson, ends the review of 
the early years of my entrance into the cares and re- 
sponsibilities of life. When I began to write it at 
your suggestion, followed by the request of your 
father, I thought only of the gratification it might 
afford you to have a repetition, in that form, of 
some of the incidents in which you seemed to take 
great interest. As my mind and memory reverted 
to the trials I experienced in circumstances new 
and unexpected, in responsibilities incident to a 
novel condition of political and national affairs in 
Europe, I have realized, what perhaps did not at 
the time these happened, sufficiently occur to me, 
that it was a merciful Providence sustained me 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 79 

through all. While I had a tender conscience, 
strengthened by the religious training I have be- 
fore alluded to, I have to confess that it was not 
until later in life that I learned the duty of daily 
prayer. Like many, I will not say most, young per- 
sons, I was conscious that I owed a duty to God 
in prayer, for his mercy and protection, but relied 
too much on the performance of the same in regu- 
lar attendance on public worship, and the occasional 
appeal for help and protection in sudden emergen- 
cies. I do not mean to say that I have now for 
the first time realized the Superintending Providence 
that sustained me, but that my task will not be ful- 
filled until I impress on you, my dear boy, the duty 
and obligation of seeking daily — and many times a 
day — in seasons of temptation and trial, the aid 
and direction of the Holy Spirit. Happily your 
training, under the direction of your loving parents, 
is such that it is not necessary for me to direct you 
in the way to seek this help ; my object is only 
to impress upon you a duty, the faithful perform- 
ance of which is enjoined upon all who seek for 
guardianship and guidance through all the scenes 
of life. To your dear parents, and to you, my dear 
godson, I present this little history or " Reminiscences 



80 REMINISCENCES OF 

of seven years of my early life," as a testimonial of 
my long and lasting friendship for them, and of my 
affectionate interest in your welfare, and remain 
Your affectionate friend, 

Richard S. Smith. 
June iyth y i86y. 




SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 8 1 



I thought the sermon of the Rev. Mr. Murphy, on the for- 
feited blessing of Esau — preached July 7th, 1867 — so applicable 
to my experience of "early life," that I solicited the extract 
thereof which I here append to my narrative. 

R. S. S. 



" Christian youth, made up of the opportunities of child- 
hood, and the education of the few brief years that follow it, 
is the birthright of every believer. It forms, or ought to 
form, the inestimable blessing of every life. No one can 
measure the preciousness and the importance, while it lasts, 
of this period of individual training and development. The 
whole human existence, for the most part, depends upon it 
chiefly for its character, for its direction, for its acquired 
power, for the extent of its happiness and usefulness. It is 
the seed-time for the harvest of life ; the germs then planted 
in the nature begin growths that go on perhaps everlastingly. 
Spent in holy ways, subjected to the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord, preserved by Christian discipline from the 
formation of sinful habits, and enriched with heavenly helps 
of grace and truth, youth is indeed the blessing of life. 
Virtues grow strong, native faults become manageable, dispo- 
sitions to evil are checked, good tendencies are established, 
and an onward progress in the path of the just seems to be 
but the proper continuation of the start then made. Even 
to take only a lower view of the beginning of life : youth 
well spent, with reference to the knowledge and interests of 



82 REMINISCENCES OF 

this world, — who can estimate its value in the acquisition 
of learning ; in the attainment of an honorable character ; in 
gaining the possession of abilities, which will make one use- 
ful and successful in such pursuits as God's providence may- 
set before him ? That which cannot be well done at any- 
other time, can be done then. There can be laid in youth, 
deep and broad, the foundation of real goodness, true princi- 
ples, and right methods of life, which, with God's help, will 
bear any superstructure that one may be required to rear 
upon it. Improved, the whole life is benefited and elevated ; 
wasted, the whole life is impaired and depraved. I know 
no words to express adequately my conviction of the impor- 
tance to every Christian of the opening, the early years of 
his life. The fullness of every blessing of mind and body, 
of disposition and of habit, in things temporal and things 
spiritual, seems more or less bound up with it. The com- 
pleteness of every possible advantage depends upon it. The 
riches, both of promise and of God's favor, rest upon it. The 
child is indeed, as the poet Wordsworth says, ' the father of 
the man.' The one, as he is moulded, formed, trained, edu- 
cated, becomes the other, wise, worthy, and good, if the birth- 
right of youth is not bartered away ; perchance foolish, un- 
honored, and evil, if it is sold for the sinful and wasteful 
indulgences that are often offered for it. Blessed is that life, 
the introduction to which is a pure, cultured, and well- 
employed youth. It occupies high vantage ground. It is 
blessed not only in what it is, but in what it has been. 
God writes no very bitter things against it in one's conscience 
and memory. It needs no wrench, no violence, to bring its 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 83 

course into the way of peace ; it is an unbroken, a well- 
proportioned whole, to which belongs the best praise of the 
day of final account. The brightest future of the church 
of God is to be found in the purity and faithfulness of its 
children, of its youth. The glories and the failures of the 
kingdom of Christ will depend largely upon the success or 
defeat of measures to bring into the fold, and keep there, 
just such little ones as Jesus took up in his arms, put his 
hands upon, and blessed. We may do for these that which 
no late conversion can ever do, — consecrate their whole lives 
to God, and give to their fullest extent the first of all their 
talents to the service and glory of the Most High." 





CALVARY CHURCH, ROCKDALE, PA. 



Memorial Sermon 



PREACHED BY 



RT. REV. ALFRED LEE, D. D., 

Bishop of Delaware, 



IN CALVARY CHURCH, ROCKDALE, PENNSYL- 
VANIA, JUNE 2 9 th, 1884. 



SERMON. 

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end 
of that man is peace." — Psalm j% v. 37. 

r*HIS was the text of a sermon to which I 
■*■ listened on the first Sunday which I spent in 
this valley. The day is deeply impressed upon my 
memory — September 8, 1838. For the first time, I 
worshiped with the congregation then being gathered 
in this house, a congregation with which I was after- 
wards to be connected by bonds sacred and cherished. 
The preacher was one of our bishops, two of whom 
officiated here on that day, and the service was held 
in the basement, the church being not yet com- 
pleted. My acquaintance had just begun with that 
dear and venerated man upon whose life and char- 
acter I am to address you to-day. Often afterwards 
we walked to the house of God in company, and 
took sweet counsel together. This was the first of 
many such days of pleasantness. Forty-six years 
have flown, years to many of us eventful ; trials and 
mercies intermingled, as to God our Father seemed 



88 REMINISCENCES OF 

good. Few, very few, of those who were assembled 
on that day are now — I will not say numbered 
among the living, for they who are departed in faith 
and hope, are living in a truer, higher sense than 
we are — but few are now sharing our frail, imper- 
fect, earthly existence. A remnant only survive. 
Among those who were long spared was the found- 
er and father of this church, whose name is graven 
by reverent affection upon this memorial stone,* 
and as I recall the scene on that sunny Sabbath, 
the hushed and attentive congregation, what words 
can I choose more appropriate for this memorial of 
our friend, than those to which we then listened 
together. His earthly course, prolonged so much 
beyond the usual limit, is now terminated. His 
countenance, beaming with kindness, no longer meets 
you on entering this house ; his warm affectionate 
greetings are missed, his voice is not heard in the 
response and the anthem. We meet to-day, not to 
worship with him sensibly as heretofore, but in con- 
nection with God's service to hear of him, to be 
reminded of what through grace he was enabled to 
do for the Saviour and for the flock. I repeat to 
you then this call of the Psalmist, true now as it 

* See Appendix B. 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 89 

was three thousand years ago, to " mark the per- 
fect man, and behold the upright, for the end of 
that man is peace." 

I need not remark to an audience instructed in 
the Holy Scriptures that the word "perfect," as ap- 
plied here and elsewhere, conveys no meaning of 
exemption from frailties incident to our mortal state 
and to our fallen nature. Entire freedom from sin 
belongs to "the just made perfect," after they are 
released from the burden of the flesh. None are 
more ready to disclaim a sinless condition than 
those who seem to human judgment most holy and 
Christ like. With the believer's growth in grace, 
he grows in humility, and becomes more deeply 
impressed with his own shortcomings. The ripened 
ears of wheat bend downward. The word " perfect 
denotes in scriptural phraseology the enlightened, 
sincere, whole-hearted, faithful servant of God, one 
whose religion takes deep root and produces the 
fruits of righteousness ; a living epistle of Christ, 
to be known and read of all men. Such a man, 
guided and upheld by the Holy Spirit, walks in 
the light, and exercises himself to have a conscience 
void of offence towards God and towards man. 
However outwardly irreproachable and blameless, 



9° REMINISCENCES OF 

he has before his eyes the lofty standard of the 
holy law and will of God, and humbles himself as 
a trangressor. He disclaims all assumption of per- 
sonal merit, and rests his whole hope for acceptance 
and salvation upon redeeming love and undeserved 
mercy. Our lamented friend would have recoiled 
from arrogating to himself any pretence of merit- 
orious obedience. The language of humble con- 
fession which was upon his lips, when he joined in 
the devotions of his church, was no unmeaning ac- 
knowledgment. He felt himself to be, what on his 
knees he was wont to call himself before the 
Heart Searcher, a miserable sinner. But as a true 
and faithful servant of God, whose character was 
marked with simplicity and godly sincerity, whose 
religion was practical, consistent, well developed, and 
animated by the great cardinal principle of Chris- 
tian love, he may fitly be regarded as coming up 
to the Psalmist's description. If I were addressing 
those who were strangers to his manner of life, I 
might fear to be charged with excess of partiality ; 
but among those who knew him well for years, I 
do not apprehend any such imputation. Seldom 
can a verdict of unanimous approval be claimed 
even for those whose characters as a whole are ad- 



SE VEN YEA RS OF EARLY LIFE. 9 1 

mirable and admired. But looking at the subject 
of this memorial in the diverse aspects of his life, 
I do not believe that there will in this community 
be a dissenting voice. 

Mr. Smith enjoyed in his youth the exceeding 
advantage of a Christian home. To the example, 
guardianship, and instructions of a parent who feared 
God, he was indebted for those early impressions of 
reverence for sacred things which grew with his 
growth and ripened into mature godliness. De- 
prived at a very early age of a mother's care, the 
want of maternal oversight and love was supplied 
by his father's solicitous and unwearied devotion to 
the nurture of his children.* The sons went forth 
from the parental roof armed with those principles 
of conscientious integrity and faith in God which 
preserved them amid the temptations of the world, 
and were the foundation of future estimation and 
success. 

In unison with a pure domestic atmosphere was 
the hallowed influence of the church of Christ. The 
children of this family were early led to the house 
of God,t required regularly to attend public worship 

* See Appendix C. f See Appendix D. 



92 REMINISCENCES OF 

twice on every Lord's Day, and to listen to pastoral 
instruction. Upon the benefits which he thus en- 
joyed, Mr. Smith was wont to speak often and fer- 
vently. The family were attendants at St. Peter's 
church, Philadelphia, while Bishop White was rector, 
and the venerable bishop was affectionately remem- 
bered by his youthful hearer, and often recalled in 
conversation. Mr. Smith spoke particularly of the 
happy influence of so much of the Divine Word be- 
ing indelibly impressed upon his mind through his 
having been accustomed in his childhood and early 
days to hear it read in the appointed lessons and 
Psalms. The love which he early imbibed for his 
church grew and intensified as he advanced in life. 
The Protestant Episcopal church had no more loyal, 
intelligent, and devoted son. He had no higher en- 
joyment than he found in her solemn services. Her 
Prayer-book was, next to the Bible, "the book of 
his understanding and of his heart." As God en- 
abled him, he freely gave to the extension and estab- 
lishment of her communion. Besides his constant 
and assiduous discharge of duties in the parish 
with which he was identified, and which he repre- 
sented as a lay delegate in the Diocesan Convention 
for fifty successive years, he also served as a mem- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 93 

ber of the Standing Committee of Pennsylvania until 
advanced years led to his retirement. With his 
strong attachment to his own household of faith, 
Mr. Smith highly appreciated Christian excellencies 
wherever seen, and among those of other commu- 
nions he numbered many warm friends. His large 
heart responded to the apostle's invocation, "Grace 
be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ 
in sincerity." 

Mr. Smith's training was thorough and accurate 
in the branches of an English education. Although 
he did not take a college course, or study the ancient 
classics, his mastery of his own tongue was shown 
in the clear, forcible style and choice language of 
the account which he wrote of his voyage and so- 
journ in Sweden. 

The advantage of his thorough business training 
was evident in after years in many ways. His ad- 
vice and direction, freely extended to those who 
sought them, were often of very great value, and 
official and financial duties of various important 
trusts were always discharged with a correctness and 
fidelity which left nothing to be desired.* What- 



* See Appendix E. 



94 REMINISCENCES OF 

ever he undertook in this way was always done 
promptly and well. 

It was a remarkable evidence of the confidence 
he had won that on the recommendation of his em- 
ployers he was sent as supercargo of a ship on a 
European voyage before he had completed his 
twenty-first year. The times were critical. Wars 
and rumors of wars enhanced the risks of commer- 
cial ventures. Much would depend upon the good 
judgment and prompt action of the person in charge 
of merchandise. The selection of so young a man 
was a high tribute both to his integrity and his good 
judgment, and this confidence was fully justified by 
the result. This commission led to important con- 
sequences, concerning not only the interests of Mr. 
Smith's employers, but those of many of his coun- 
trymen, and enabled him in after life to exert a happy 
influence in promoting friendly relations between his 
own country and the land to which, in God's provi- 
dence, his steps had been led. Detained, by the un- 
certain state of things, in the port of Gothenburg, 
he was chosen to act as consul of the United States. 
He was not one to content himself with the mere 
routine of official duty. Alive to the risks and 
possible events of that critical period, vigilant, ob- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 95 

serving, and sparing no pains, he was the first person 
to obtain knowledge of the declaration of war be- 
tween the United States and Great Britain, and of 
this information he availed himself to warn and save 
from capture a large fleet of American vessels. Sel- 
dom has a commercial representative done more for 
his countrymen. 

Mr. Smith's sojourn in Sweden led to other re- 
sults of much interest. During his three years 
residence he became very much attached to the 
Swedish people. His genial, open disposition and 
agreeable manners secured for him hospitable wel- 
come and lasting regard in families with which he 
became acquainted. After his return to his own 
country he kept up correspondence with his former 
friends, and was always ready to do acts of kind- 
ness to natives of Sweden, whose circumstances be- 
came known to him through his acquaintance with 
their language. These assistances, so grateful, and 
often very timely to strangers, were the promptings 
of his own heart, rendered without any thought or 
expectation of recompense or praise. It was a great 
surprise to himself to find how highly they were 
appreciated. They were communicated from one to 
another, and awakened profound feelings of gratitude 



96 REMINISCENCES OF 

among the Swedes in America, as well as in those 
occupying the highest positions in Sweden, which 
were exhibited in a very remarkable manifestation. 
Through the Swedish vice-consul in Philadelphia, 
and the minister in Washington, statements of the 
facts were made to King Oscar II. of Sweden and 
Norway, and by His Majesty's direction the cross of 
the order Wasa was sent to Mr. Smith, making him 
a Knight Commander of that order, a very decided 
mark of distinction, and a testimonial of royal favor.* 
This unusual and unexpected token of appreciation, 
alike creditable to the sovereign by whom it was 
conferred, and to the recipient, was presented by Mr. 
Westergaard, vice-consul, in Philadelphia, on the 23d 
June, 1880. Another expression was given to the 
feelings entertained by Swedish residents in Phila- 
delphia, towards one whom they regarded as a na- 
tional benefactor, on the 16th of August, 1880, his 
ninety- first birthday, in the presentation of a very 
handsome and costly silver lamp. This bore the in- 
scription, " Presented by Scandinavia's children to 
their devoted friend." In a world where good deeds 
and benefits are so often unnoticed, except by the 
recording angel, nay, where they not unfrequently 

* See Appendix F. 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 97 

meet with unkind requital, it is delightful to witness 
a response from the recipients so cordial and appro- 
priate. 

Mr. Smith returned in safety to his home in 
Philadelphia, Jan. 21, 1813. The year was memora- 
ble for two other events in his history of the deep- 
est interest. On Easter Eve, April 13th, he received 
the rite of confirmation from Bishop White, in St. 
James's church, Philadelphia. The class consisted of 
one hundred and fifty-one persons, among whom 
were William A. Muhlenberg and James Milnor. 
The vow and promise made by Richard Somers 
Smith, when he thus confessed the faith of Christ 
crucified, was sincerely kept. He continued Christ's 
faithful soldier and servant until his life's end. 

The second auspicious event of the year was his 
marriage, on the 17th of November, to Elizabeth, 
daughter of John Beach, of Gloucester, Massa- 
chusetts. This wedding-day was one to be held in 
perpetual remembrance. Upon the character of this 
estimable lady, and the domestic happiness resulting 
from this union, I do not feel at liberty to dwell. 
The Christian home, like the holy place in the taber- 
nacle, is not to be intruded upon. But I may ap- 
propriately say that there is no mightier influence 
7 



9^ REMINISCENCES OF 

under divine grace to mould the man, shape the 
character, and direct the life, than that of the sancti- 
fied home. From sympathy and communion with a 
woman of Christ-like spirit there flows a strong 
magnetic current of holy influences. Thence is 
derived strength for duty, counsel in perplexity, 
patience under trials, comfort in sorrow. The no- 
blest, the wisest, the most honored and useful men, 
have owed much of their power for good to such 
companionship. For no other blessing was Mr. 
Smith more thankful than for the partner who shared 
with him the joys and sorrows of fifty-eight years. 
He was mated with a congenial spirit, his ready 
helper in works of faith and labors of love. In 
March, 1871, he experienced the sorest grief and 
bereavement of his life, when the parting came — a 
parting, but only for a few years — now expired. 

Mr. Smith, soon after his return from Sweden, 
was actively engaged in commercial pursuits, until 
his house, with many others, was wrecked in the 
financial crisis of 1834. To a man who had stood 
so high in business life this was a most trying re- 
verse. But he bore the calamity with cheerful sub- 
mission, and afterwards could recognize therein the 
hand of the God in whom he trusted, leading him 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 99 

to a new field of Christian usefulness. The mis- 
fortune, as it seemed at the time, proved a blessing 
to this neighborhood; and inasmuch as it is more 
blessed to give than to receive, it doubtless proved 
in the issue a blessing to himself and to his house. 
Certainly few persons reap from successful enter- 
prises the genuine satisfaction and pure enjoyment 
which accrued to him from the prosperity of the 
church which he was instrumental in planting, and 
the cheering evidences he was constantly receiving 
of the good thereby accomplished. A manufactur- 
ing property on Chester creek came into the hands 
of his firm, and after the failure became his property 
and place of residence. He had previously spent a 
summer here, and in June, 1833, started a Sunday- 
school, which was the germ from whence sprang 
this church. With paternal care he watched over 
its infancy, growth, and expansion. His time and 
means were ungrudgingly devoted to this tender 
plant. His disinterested and zealous devotion en- 
listed the sympathy of others, and raised up friends 
and co-operators. After the return of his family to 
Philadelphia, consequent upon his being chosen 
president of the Union Insurance Company, he al- 



100 REMINISCENCES OF 

ways spent his Sundays here.* As superintendent 
of the Sunday-school and warden of the church he 
was most assiduous and faithful. A lover of the 
young, he engaged the affections of the children of 
his school, and knew each little one by name. By 
the families of the congregation he was regarded as 
a friend upon whom they could always rely. He 
was ever ready to advise them in difficulties, and 
to do them every kind office in his power. To 
him rectors, vestrymen, and congregation habitually . 
looked for counsel, help, and cheer. Truly pleasant 
it was to see his bright, benignant face in the school 
and church, specially radiant at holy festivals and 
on days of solemn gladness. In the churchyard 
which his feet so often trod, under the shadow of 
the sanctuary which he loved so dearly, his mortal 
part now sleeps until the resurrection of the just. 
The places that knew him, know him no more in 
the visible presence. His associates in the Master's 
service, and the friends to whom he was so endeared, 
are diminishing in numbers year by year. But after 
the youngest child who has seen him shall have 
gone hence, we trust that the church which he 
planted will remain as his fitting monument, remain 

* See Appendix G. 



SE FEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. I O I 

peradventure until "the Lord himself shall descend 
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 
archangel, and the trump of God, and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first." 

The closing period of Mr. Smith's life was like 
a mild and mellow autumn, with less ardent suns 
and shortening days, but with softened light and pe- 
culiar beauties. His vigor of intellect, activity of 
movement, and elasticity of spirits were wonderfully 
preserved. Even at fourscore it could not be said 
of him that his strength was " labor and sorrow." 
He still enjoyed life, and discharged his accustomed 
duties. Up to his ninety-second year he continued 
to act as president of the Union Insurance Company, 
resigning the office in January, 1881. The weight 
of years gradually bowed down his erect frame, and 
rendered his step less sure and firm, but did not 
benumb his faculties, or dry up the flow of his af- 
fections and sympathies. His interest continued 
lively and unabated in those things which were near 
his heart, and his friendships were warm as ever. 
Placid and serene was his eventide. " Mark the per- 
fect man, and behold the upright, for the end of 
that man is peace." Not the end alone. It had 
been peace with him for long, long years before. 



102 REMINISCENCES OF 

"The peace of Christ ruled in his heart." It ruled 
there, even in times of trouble, under the shocks, 
sorrows, and bereavements, of which he had his 
share. In the exercise of simple, confiding faith, 
he dwelt under the shadow of the Almighty. En- 
gaged in ministering to others, and earnest in en- 
deavors to promote their temporal and spiritual 
good, he committed his own way unto the Lord, 
undisturbed by doubts and anxieties respecting his 
personal acceptance and salvation.* " For he knew 
in whom he believed, and was persuaded that he 
was able to keep that which was committed unto 
him against that day." And so, as the time of his 
departure drew near, he had not to cast about for 
evidences of a state of grace, or anxiously to scru- 
tinize his own spiritual exercises, but reposed with 
calm assurance upon him who saveth to the utter- 
most, who had been his long-tried guide and sus- 
tainer, and who, he was confident, would never leave 
him nor forsake him. He had lived in the com- 
munion of the catholic church ; in the confidence 
of a certain faith ; in the comfort of a reasonable 
religious and holy hope ; in favor — as we assuredly 
believe — with his God, and in perfect charity with 

* See Appendix H. 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. IO3 

the world. It only remained to die as he had lived. 
When the Psalmist says, "The end of that man is 
peace," he looks beyond the mortal hour. The end 
which he contemplates is the great issue, the transi- 
tion and what is beyond, the welcome into things 
unseen,* the ineffably sweet approval when the King 
is seen in his beauty. " Well done, good and faith- 
ful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

For one mercy, resulting from the lengthening 
of his days, Mr. Smith was truly thankful, and so 
were many others. He was permitted to unite in 
the semi-centennial celebration of this parish, on the 
24th day of June, 1883. Many of you witnessed 
how greatly he enjoyed that occasion, the com- 
memoration of God's gracious dealings, the historic 
reminiscences, the gathering together of so many 
of the former pastors and worshipers, the warm and 
affectionate greetings of those who had not seen 
each other face to face for so wide an interval. 
Comparatively free, then, from infirmities, he en- 
tered with youthful zest into the various pleasing 
incidents of that anniversary, and rejoiced as with 
the joy of harvest. 

On Monday, March 3d, 1884, there was another 
gathering in this church — bereaved children, sorrow- 

* See Appendix I. 



104 REMINISCENCES OF 

ing friends, a mourning community, meeting to wit- 
ness the committal of earth to earth, ashes to ashes, 
dust to dust. Bishops and clergymen had left their 
sacred duties ; merchants, men of business, and pro- 
fessional men had laid aside pressing engagements ; 
distant friends and former attendants in the church 
had come from far; the residents in the neighbor- 
hood, old and young, were collected, all bowed with a 
common sentiment, to unite in the mournful solemni- 
ties of his burial, " sorrowing most of all that they 
should see his face no more." It was no mere cere- 
monial, or semblance of grief, but the expression of 
profound reverence for departed goodness and benev- 
olence. All felt poorer for the loss. But all had 
reason to rejoice that such an example of the beauty 
of holiness had been so long vouchsafed, and to 
thank God for the good wrought by one unselfish, 
sympathizing, energetic Christian life. Among the 
many tributes of affectionate respect to the memory 
of our deceased brother, that of the Right Rev. 
Bishop Stevens, in his address — soon after delivered 
— to the Convention of the Diocese of Pennsylva- 
nia, is particularly graceful and just. " Monday, 
March 3d, I went to Lenni to attend the funeral of 
the oldest office-bearer of our church in this diocese, 
Richard Somers Smith. He was buried from Cal- 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. IO5 

vary church, Rockdale, of which he was the senior 
warden. In length of service in the church, in un- 
flagging devotion to its interest, in generous liberality 
in its support, in personal purity, in unsullied integ- 
rity, and for the many domestic and social qualities 
which make up the Christian gentleman, he has left 
no superior behind him." 

Preserved in wonderful freshness to enter upon 
his ninety -fifth year, he exhibited an old age of 
singular brightness and beauty. He was diligent 
in business, up to the last decade of his life. He 
was " fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," until he 
was called to go up higher and enter into the joy 
of his Lord. 

It is difficult for us to realize what an important 
period of national and church life is spanned by the 
years of Mr. Smith's life. He was born the very 
year that the constitution of these United States 
went into operation ; the very year that Washington 
entered upon his first term as President ; and so he 
lived through every administration of the govern- 
ment of the United States since. Not only so, but 
he was a babe in arms when the constitution of 
the Protestant Episcopal church was adopted, in 
October, 1789; and so his life compasses the whole 
corporate history of our church, from its constitu- 



106 REMINISCENCES OF 

tional birthday to this year, when the assembled 
deputies of forty-eight dioceses and sixteen domes- 
tic and foreign missionary jurisdictions, with more 
than fifty bishops, came up in solemn gladness and 
with songs of degrees to the holy house in which, 
ninety-five years ago, was adopted the fundamental 
constitution of the Protestant Episcopal church. 

When he was born, but three bishops (Seabury, 
White, and Provost) had been consecrated for Amer- 
ica, and not a single bishop had been consecrated 
on American soil. He lived to read the roll of 131 
bishops, 127 of whom had been consecrated in the 
United States. It is difficult to conceive what rush- 
ing currents of national, ecclesiastical, and social 
events have swept under the archway of his life, as, 
like a living bridge, it spanned nearly a century. 
But I must not dwell longer on the striking and 
interesting biography of this "aged disciple," now 
"asleep in Jesus;" and so we can say to ourselves, 
and to all who loved him, in the words of the 
quaint elegy of Quarles on Archbishop Usher, 

" Then weep no more: see how his peaceful breast, 
Rocked by the hand of death, takes quiet rest ; 
Disturb him not, but let him sweetly take 
A long repose, — he hath been long awake" 



APPENDICES. 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. IO9 



APPENDIX A. 

It having occurred to me that some of my letters re- 
specting the vessels saved from capture in Wingo roads, be- 
low Gothenburg, might have been published in Philadelphia 
papers of that period, I obtained at the Philadelphia Library 
a volume of " Poulson's Daily Advertiser," in which, under 
date of Nov. 13, 1812, I found the following: — "We are in- 
debted to R. G. Beaseley, Esq., U. S. Consul at London, for 
the annexed extract of a letter and a list of American ves- 
sels at Gothenburg and other points in the Baltic." 

Consulate of the United States, 
To R. G. Beaseley, Esq., American Gothenburg, Aug. 18, 1812. 

Consul, London. 

Dear Sir : — Herewith I send you a list of American vessels 
in this port and other ports in the Baltic; and also of others cap- 
tured by the English. We have to lament that those captured off 
Darshead have fallen a sacrifice through the blind security of 
their masters and supercargoes, who, after being warned of their 
danger, still continued under British convoy. The Caliban, Cuba, 
and Galen were at Hanau, when I went on express to inform 
them of the declaration of war. Finding I could not persuade 
them to go into Carlsham, I returned to Gothenburg in company 
with Mr. Story of Boston, who had been passenger in the Cuba. 
Upon our arrival in Gothenburg, and learning hostilities had ac- 
tually commenced on the coast of America, Mr. Story remained 
but four hours, and set out again for Hanau, in hopes to per- 
suade them to seek for safety in a Swedish port. He arrived at 
Hanau on the fourth inst. (August) just as the fleet were under 
weigh. He, however, succeeded in getting on board the Cuba. 
Subsequently, and before the 6th, he boarded all the others men- 



no 



REMINISCENCES OF 



tioned in the list; but although the wind was favorable several 
times for escape, he could not succeed in persuading them to re- 
turn. They were all captured subsequently on the 12th. 

Yours respectfully, 





Richard S. Smith. 




Consul, etc 


American vessels secure 


in Gothenburg. 


Ship Peruvian, 


Ship Columbia, 


Ship Antelope, 


Brig Syren, 


Boston. 


New York. 


Brig Paulina, 


Ship Franklin, 


Brig Gallien, 


Ship Fisher Ames, 


Brig Louisa, 


Ship Good Intent, 


Brig Betsey, 


Brig Fame, 


Boston. 


Newport. 


Ship Pittsburg, 


Ship Africa, 


Ship America, 


Ship Shamrock, 


Philadelphia. 


Wiscasset. 


Ship Alice, 


Ship Geo. Watson, 


Ship Mary, 


Ship Superior, 


Newburyport. 


Bath. 


Ship Hautonia, 


Br. Oriental, 


Ship Liv. Packet, 


Ship Rupert, 


Portsmouth. 


Nantucket. 


Brig Venus, 


Ship Arabella, 


Sch. J. Russell, 


Ship Mariner, 


Salem. 


Brig Eyra, 


Ship Wm. Penn, 


Brig Daniel, 


Ship Mercator, 


Duxbury. 



New Bedford. 

Captured off Hanau. 
Cato, Marblehead, Sukey Ann, Salem. 

Eliza Ann, Salem. 

Captured off Darshead. 
Caliban, Boston. Wm. and Eliza, New Bedford. 

Halcyon, Boston. Galen, New York, 

Cuba, Boston. Edward, Newburyport. 

Cygnet, Boston. 



APPENDIX B 




SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 1 1 1 



APPENDIX C. 

Richard Somers Smith was born in Lombard street, 
between Second and Third streets, Philadelphia, on the 16th 
of August, 1789. He was the son of Daniel Smith, and 
grandson of Richard Smith of Cape May County, N. J. 
His father, Daniel Smith, removed early in life to Philadel- 
phia, and entered the store of Francis Gurney, doing busi- 
ness at the "Drawbridge" with the West Indies. He after- 
wards served with conspicuous gallantry in the Revolution- 
ary War. As lieutenant of marines, he assisted in the cap- 
ture of a British transport with three hundred troops, and 
brought vessel and troops a prize to port. A sword surren- 
dered to him by the commanding officer of the captured 
vessel still remains in the family. He was on his next voy- 
age captured by a British frigate, and confined for nine 
months in the hold of a prison ship at Providence, Rhode 
Island, suffering privations which cost more than half of 
his fellow prisoners their lives, and which left him almost 
helpless for a long time after his release. He afterwards 
served two years in a regiment commanded by his old friend 
General Gurney. In October, 1780, he married Elizabeth 
Shute, daughter of William Shute, whose brother Atwood 
Shute was mayor of the city of Philadelphia during the 
years 1756 and 1757. 

Daniel and Elizabeth Shute Smith had thirteen children, 
seven of whom survived them : the eldest of these, James S. 
Smith, dying at the age of eighty ; Francis Gurney at the age 
of eighty-nine ; William S. at eighty ; and their sister Mrs. 
Poulson at seventy-six. Richard S. Smith, the subject of 
this memoir, died February 28, 1884, aged ninety -four years 
and six months, leaving two surviving brothers, Daniel Smith, 



112 REMINISCENCES OF 

in his ninety-fourth year, and Charles S., over eighty-five* 
All of these brothers celebrated their golden weddings, and 
all resided in Philadelphia from their youth. — Westcotfs 
History of Philadelphia. 



APPENDIX D. 
The habit of regular attendance at church twice on every 
Lord's day, with his children, was in accordance with a 
promise made by Mr. Smith's father to his wife in her dying 
hour ; he never failed during their childhood and youth to 
take them as he had promised twice every Sunday to the 
house of God ; and in after life Mr. Smith has been often 
heard to tell that he never even in early manhood left his 
own place of worship without accounting to his father for 
his absence, though he was careful never so to absent him- 
self, excepting for attendance at some other church of his 
own communion. 



APPENDIX E. 

An instance of this fidelity occurred during Mr. Smith's 
residence in Sweden, where, as American consul, he was 
called upon to examine and sign the papers of all American 
vessels. On one occasion he had reason to doubt the cor- 
rectness of some papers thus submitted to him, and when 
asked by the captain to sign them, replied, " I cannot, for 
they do not seem to me to be correct;" upon which the cap- 
tain admitted the truth of Mr. Smith's suspicions, but inti- 
mated that "if he would overlook the falsity of them, he 
would make it worth his while to do so." Mr. Smith an- 
swered indignantly, " / will never put my name to a lie." 

* Since the above was written Mr. Charles S. Smith died at his residence in 
Philadelphia, on the morning of August 22, 1884. 



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SEVEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. 1 1 3 



APPENDIX F. 



From the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, June 23, 1880. 

RECEIVING ROYAL ORDERS. 



A PROMINENT PHILADELPHIAN IS MADE A COMMANDER OF THE 
ROYAL SWEDISH ORDER OF WASA. 



At one o'clock this afternoon several friends of Mr. Rich- 
ard Somers Smith, the president of the Union Insurance 
Company, met in the rooms of the company, corner of Third 
and Walnut streets, to witness the conferring of the Royal 
Swedish Order of Wasa upon the venerable man. This dis- 
tinction has been shown to Mr. Smith because of the kind- 
ness he has displayed to the Swedish people who have come 
to him in distress. He has long been noted as the warm 
friend of these people, and many there are who have received 
from him aid at a time when there was no other hand out- 
stretched to help them. This practice has been continued 
for over a half century, and in order to bring some official 
notification of the appreciation of them, the Swedish vice- 
consul in this city, Mr. L. Westergaard, sought the aid of 
Count Lewenhaupt, the Swedish minister at Washington. 
Count Lewenhaupt presented to King Oscar II. a statement 
of the case, and in reply received from His Majesty a cross 
of the royal order above mentioned. This was forwarded to 
Mr. Westergaard, and the cross was presented to Mr. Smith 
this afternoon. There were present to witness the ceremony 
Dr. H. A. W. Lindehn, correspondent of Swedish newspapers 
in this city; Mr. Charles Piatt, Dr. Thomas H. Hand, Mr. 
Henry D. Sherrerd, Mr. William C. Keehmle, Mr. Thomas 
Montgomery, Mr. Thomas Gillespie, Mr. C. H. Oberge, and 
Mr. Atwood Smith. 

Mr. Westergaard presented the cross to Mr. Smith, saying : 
"Gentlemen: I have taken the liberty to ask you to be 

8 



1 14 REMINISCENCES OF 

present here to-day upon an occasion that affords me great 
pleasure, and on one that I am sure will also be very grati- 
fying to you. The very venerable Mr. Richard Somers Smith, 
now in his ninety-first year, still enjoying excellent health, is 
a gentleman who, ever since he was United States consul at 
Gothenburg, in Sweden, in 1810, 181 1, and 1812, has been a 
warm friend of the Swedes. He has always assisted them in 
word and in deed, and the Swedes of Philadelphia do there- 
fore feel a deep sense of gratitude and attachment for him. 
His Majesty King Oscar II. of Sweden and Norway, being 
aware of Mr. Smith's many acts of good-will and of kindness 
to the Swedes that have come to Philadelphia, and of his 
untiring devotion to the welfare of such Swedes for a long 
series of years, desires himself to show the highly-esteemed 
Philadelphia gentleman that he, the king, fully appreciates 
Mr. Smith's kindness to the Swedes, and to that end the 
Swedish Legation at Washington has put upon me, as the 
vice-consul here, the pleasant task of conferring upon this, 
our most worthy townsman, in the name of King Oscar, this 
the Order of the Wasa, which makes him a commander of 
that old order, and which I am sure confers upon him a very 
decided mark of distinction and a testimonial of royal favor." 

In replying to this Mr. Smith said : 

" This visit from you, while it is a great surprise, excites 
a most heartfelt and grateful feeling that my continued at- 
tachment and interest in the Swedes is thus estimated and 
expressed by these flattering testimonials. It is now sixty- 
eight years since I left Sweden, and during that long period 
I have never forgotten the kind consideration always mani- 
fested towards me, the young American consul. The hospi- 
tality I enjoyed in the best families of the city of Gothen- 
burg was not only gratifying, but, young as I then was, 
proved elevating and instructive. I am most thankful that 
friendly correspondence has been continued with families 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. US 

that were my intimate associates — the younger members re- 
specting me as the valued friend of their parents." 

The cross presented to Mr. Smith is formed of gold, and 
of exquisite workmanship. It is suspended from a crown 
richly set with pearls. In the center of the cross is an oval 
piece which contains a sheaf of wheat, while circling this is 
a red band on which is the inscription in Swedish, "Augus- 
tus Third, instituted 1772." The cross is nearly Maltese in 
shape, each of the four arms of it being heart-shaped, and 
extending outward from the oval centre-piece. Between the 
four arms are four smaller crowns. The decoration will be 
worn suspended by a green ribbon about the neck. It will 
thus fall across the bosom. By this distinction Mr. Smith is 
made not only a knight, but a commander, which is the order 
next above knighthood. It is very rarely that this degree is 
conferred upon a person who is not already a knight. In 
the latter order the decoration is worn pinned upon the lapel 
of the coat. 

The diploma from the king, bringing the official notifi- 
cation over the royal signature, will reach this country in a 
few days, and will then be presented to Mr. Smith. This 
honor has taken him quite by surprise. 



1 1 6 REMINISCENCES OF 



From the Philadelphia Evening Telegraph. 

A PHILADELPHIA KNIGHT. 



HOW SIR RICHARD SOMERS SMITH WAS GREETED UPON HIS 

9 1 ST BIRTHDAY. 



A few of the Scandinavian friends of Richard Somers 
Smith, President of the Union Insurance Company, present- 
ed him with a handsome solid silver lamp yesterday. The 
day was Mr. Smith's ninety-first birthday. The committee 
in charge were Mrs. M. H. Sandgren, L. Westergaard, the 
consul of Sweden and Norway at this port, and Charles H. 
Oberge. The drop-light, or lamp, is a fac-simile of an old 
bronze lamp belonging to the royal family of Sweden, made 
nearly two hundred years ago. It is a most beautiful piece 
of work, weighing sixteen pounds, and is valued at five hun- 
dred dollars. It is about two feet high, and has sides which 
taper towards the light, and is beautifully chased. The in- 
scriptions on the base are as follows : 



Sir Richard Somers Smith, of Philadelphia, 

Knight Commander of the Royal Swedish Order of Wasa, 

Consul of the United States at Gothenburg, in Sweden, 1810-11-12. 



Presented by Scandinavia's Children to their Devoted Friend 
On his 91st birthday, August 16, 1880. 



A Memorial of their Gratitude for his Kindness to them as Strangers in a 
Foreign Land. 



At four o'clock Mrs. Sandgren's parlors were handsomely 
decorated with Swedish, Norwegian,, and American flags, a fine 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 1 17 

oil painting of King Oscar, and brilliantly lighted. A large 
company of friends of Mr. Smith were present. Among the 
gentlemen were Dr. Knight, Rev. Dr. Mann, H. D. Sherrerd, 
John H. Atwood, Dr. Lindehn, Rev. Mr. Petrie, Dr. Turnbull, 
Charles Gibbons, Jr., Alexander Lardner, and others. The 
venerable Mr. Smith sat in a chair in the southern part of the 
room, looking more like a man of sixty-five than ninety-one. 
The lamp was veiled from the view of the friends, and the 
pleasant murmur of conversation was stopped as Mr. Wester- 
gaard stepped to the front, and said: 

Ladies and Gentlemen : We have made free to invite you 
to meet us here to-day, upon the ninety-first anniversary of the 
birth of our venerable townsman, Sir Richard Somers Smith, and 
we thank you all for your presence. A few months ago some of 
the older resident Scandinavians of Philadelphia met, with a view 
of taking steps to honor Mr. Smith this day, it being the desire 
of his Scandinavian friends in Philadelphia to show him in what 
high esteem he is held by them, and to what great degree they 
appreciate his kindness of heart, and what gratitude and respect 
they owe him for his untiring kindness and good will toward the 
Scandinavians, as evinced by him ever since his return from Swe- 
den, in 1812. Mr. Smith made many friends while he was United 
States Consul, at Gothenburg, in 1810-11-12, and he returned to the 
United States, retaining a strong affection for Sweden, and the 
Swedes. His long life has, as you all know, been a most remark- 
able one; and not only the resident Scandinavians of this city 
value his worth, his uniform kindness, and his benevolence toward 
the Scandinavians, but His Majesty the King of Sweden and Nor- 
way did, in June last, bestow upon Mr. Smith a decided mark of 
royal favor by making him a Knight Commander of the Royal 
Swedish Order of Wasa, which, I am sure, must have been as 
gratifying to his friends here as it was to us Scandinavians. We 
have the old gentleman with us to-day in the enjoyment of 
good health, and with all his mental faculties unimpaired ; and we 
hope that the Giver of life and health may continue to favor him 
with those blessings until he shall be called away from this world. 



1 1 8 REMINISCENCES OF 

Mr. Westergaard then turned to Mr. Smith, and congratu- 
lated him on reaching his ninety-first birthday, and said that 
he would give way to another, who would make the presen- 
tation speech. Mrs. Sandgren then presented the lamp, in 
a few well-chosen sentences, and then three little children, 
representing Scandinavia, ran up to Mr. Smith, and kissed 
him. The venerable gentleman arose, and said that his feel- 
ings would not allow him to say what he ought to say, and 
he therefore called on the Rev. Mr. Murphy to respond for 
him, and that gentleman read from a manuscript, recounting 
Mr. Smith's visit to Sweden in 1810, and his subsequent resi- 
dence in that country, his friendship for the Swedish people, 
and many personal reminiscences of an interesting character. 
Mr. Smith said that what had been said hardly described 
all the interest he had felt in Sweden. He then had the 
decoration put on. All the friends gathered about him, and 
heartily congratulated him. Mr. Smith then exhibited a pic- 
ture of Mr. Wick, a well-known Swedish gentleman, who died 
in 1869. After half an hour or more had been spent in con- 
versation, the company dispersed. The following telegram 
was received from the Swedish Augustan College, Rock Island, 
111.: 
Hon. Richard Sotners Smith, No. 1010 Spruce St., Philadelphia. 

The faculty of Augustan College most sincerely congratulate 
the Hon. Mr. Smith on this joyous anniversary, and express their 
most cordial wishes for his continued well-being. 



APPENDIX G. 
And this at a time when there was no railroad commu- 
nication with the place, and Mr. Smith was obliged to drive 
seventeen miles every Saturday afternoon — sometimes through 
wintry storms — returning early Monday morning to his busi- 
ness, generally starting before sunrise; sometimes while the 
stars were still shining. 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARLY LIFE. 1 1 9 



APPENDIX H. 

Extract from a Letter to a young man who thought that God 
can be better known through Science than through Reve- 
lation. 

Philadelphia, July 4th, 1851. 

My Dear Friend : — I have read with deep interest 
your letters of 21st and 26th June. It is evident that you 
understand the ground of my faith and hope to be the 
Scriptures, which I believe fully to be a revelation from God, 
and without which there is good reason to believe that man, 
with all the helps of science, would have a very inadequate 
idea of God. In many departments of science, there are 
pagan nations at this day that are not far behind us. And 
in the city of Athens, where Philosophy and Science were 
far advanced, and whose writers are quoted with admiration 
even at this day, the apostle Paul found the city to be wholly 
given to idolatry, and met with an altar " To the unknown 
God," and tells them, "Whom therefore ye ignorantly wor- 
ship, him declare I unto you." In the book of Job it is 
said, "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou 
find out the Almighty to perfection ? It is as high as heaven ; 
what canst thou do ? It is as deep as hell ; what canst thou 
know?" The Jews, who were a people far behind the neigh- 
boring nations in science, had a much better acquaintance 
and knowledge of God than those nations, through the reve- 
lations made of himself to the Patriarchs, to Moses, and 
Aaron in the wilderness, and to the Prophets. And who 
were the instruments he selected to preach his gospel of 
salvation to a world lying in idolatry and wickedness ? Until 
the apostle Paul was converted by a miracle, . his chosen 
apostles were simple fishermen, and others who until his 
Spirit was shed on them on the day of Pentecost, although 
strong in faith, yet hardly understood his doctrine. And now 



120 REMINISCENCES OF 

I have reached another article in my faith — that by that 
Spirit which Christ has promised to grant unto whomsoever 
will truly ask it, the humblest Christian can better attain 
through the Scriptures to a knowledge of God, and a confi- 
dent hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ, than can the 
most learned philosopher and man of science, by any other 
means than through the same Scriptures. In my last letter 
to you, when I used the words, " Theology as a science I 
am little versed in," I meant to say I was little read in 
theological writings — my faith being grounded on the Scrip- 
tures. By the foregoing I would not have you understand 
that I depreciate scientific attainments either in nature, or 
in the study of the writings of learned men who have well 
digested the Scriptures, and studied the writings of the early 
fathers in the church. Science, when used as an aid to re- 
ligion, is a talent brought into the service of God ; but when 
vain man attempts, as is sometimes the case, to set aside 
revelation by setting forth what is called some new discov- 
ery, either in natural science, or in some new system of 
philosophy, I remember the warning of the apostle Paul — 
" Beware lest any man spoil you, through philosophy or vain 
deceit." In reading over what I have written, it seems to 
me a rambling sketch of my own convictions, and I am not 
sure that I make myself understood ; but I will sum up what 
I have written by saying that I hold in respect and admira- 
tion every advance in science and learning, and among 
Christ's most faithful followers, recognize many of the most 
scientific and learned men that have lived on the earth; yet 
I contend that God, in his revelation of himself, through 
the Scriptures, has given us sufficient light to know and 
serve him, and has furthermore revealed that " Eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart 
of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for 
those who love him." 



SEVEN YEARS OF EARL Y LIFE. 1 2 1 



APPENDIX I. 

Letter to a friend, accompanying the gift of a book at the 

Christmas season. 

My Dear Friend : — When I contrast the visions of my 
youth with those of my old age, I find them much enlarged 
in this later period. 

It is true that in my younger days, many objects were 
presented that in my sanguine view were, as I conceived, at- 
tainable and almost within reach ; and if once in my posses- 
sion, I felt almost secure of happiness. The excitement thus 
natural at that time of life, bounded as it is by earthly objects, 
soon subsides in frequent disappointment, and the visions of 
youth are gradually contracted to the successful employment 
of talents and means within reach, for the comfortable sub- 
sistence of self and those dependent on us. Is not this the 
case generally with the young ? How limited then these early 
visions, compared with those which open to us as we look be- 
yond this earth and its interests, to that blissful existence, 
where we are told by the Apostle that "eye hath not seen, 
nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man 
to conceive the things which God hath prepared for those 
who love him." While there is no limit to our conceptions 
of the happiness prepared for those who love God, we may 
be permitted to dwell on the intimations conveyed through 
the Scriptures, that one of our purest earthly enjoyments will 
be there enlarged and intensified. In the volume herewith 
the author has shown clearly that those we have loved and 
esteemed on earth will be recognized in heaven. This is in- 
deed a blissful vision to dwell on in these later hours of life, 
and reconciles the aged to the conviction that the tie must 
be soon severed that has long bound them to many loved 
ones on earth, only to be again renewed with them and others 



122 REMINISCENCES. 

gone before, thereafter to remain unbroken and unalloyed by- 
passions or prejudices, which so often intervene to distress and 
grieve the friendships of earth. 

At this season for the exchange of friendly, tokens, I ask 
your acceptance of the volume herewith, on the "Recognition 
of Friends in Heaven," trusting that our long friendship is 
without limit, although we cannot look for its long continu- 
ance here at our period of life. With kind wishes, I remain 
ever your attached friend, 

R. S. Smith. 




